{"id":18195,"date":"2015-10-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-005-the-other-side-of-the-good-news\/"},"modified":"2015-10-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T05:00:00","slug":"2-timothy-005-the-other-side-of-the-good-news","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-005-the-other-side-of-the-good-news\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 005 – The Other Side of the Good News"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18195","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-timothy","series_event-2-timothy","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"2 Timothy 005 - The Other Side of the Good News","sermon_date":"20151004","sermon_month":"10","sermon_year":"2015","sermon_notes":3046,"sermon_slides":3047,"sermon_mp3":3048,"sermon_id":"104151033200","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"1:9c-10","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\nThe Other Side of the Good News\n10-4-15 2 Timothy 1:9c-10 Lesson 5\n\nGood morning everybody. If we could take our Bibles and turn to 2 Timothy, chapter 1, looking this morning at the last part of verse 9 and then into verse 10. The title of this message is The Other Side of the Good News. As you\u2019re turning there let me make you aware of an opportunity this Thursday evening it\u2019s showing, I think only this Thursday around the country, but it\u2019s dealing with the facts and fiction, trying to separate facts from fiction in the recent discoveries of Noah\u2019s ark. It\u2019s actually a movie called Finding Noah. The reason I bring it to your attention is one of the key experts that plays a large role in this movie is Dr. Randall Price, who we had as a speaker at our Bible Conference back in 2012, and you don\u2019t really have an opportunities this day and age to see a Christian based movie and it\u2019s available just this Thursday night around the country, I think it\u2019s showing over at First Colony AMC around 7:00 a.m. Did I say a.m.? It\u2019d better be a good movie to get us there at a.m. 7:00 or 7:30 p.m. somewhere in there. Gabe Morris is going to be going, I\u2019m unfortunately teaching that night so I can\u2019t go. But if you\u2019re interested in meeting Gabe as kind of a church group over there you can see him. If you don\u2019t want to be seen with us and you want to sit in the corner you can do that also, but Gabe has all the information on it. I wanted to just make you aware of it.\n\nAnd of course as we\u2019re turning to 2 Timothy 1:9 one other quick to say is we\u2019re in the wake of yet another mass shooting here in America, this time taking place in Oregon; 20 plus people killed according to news reports it looks like Christians were targeted this time around but the fact of the matter is murder is the natural state of the human heart. And you\u2019ll see that very clearly in Christ\u2019s teachings if you read Mark 7:20-23. [Mark 7:20-23, \u201cAnd He was saying, \u2018That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. [21] For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, [22] deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. [23] All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.\u201d]\n\nAnd the Founding Fathers of our nation understood that; they understood that murder naturally emanates from the human heart and that\u2019s why they were so big in promoting Christian truth. They knew that as long as man\u2019s evil heart was checked or stayed or deterred through a Christian value system society could continue to be free. And you see this thinking all over the writings of our Founding Fathers, if you read, for example, George Washington\u2019s farewell address he makes a statement there that of all of the things that lead to political and lasting liberty and prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.\n\nSo man does not have to be controlled by the state if he can control himself and the best way to help man control himself is to have Christianity in his life. That\u2019s why our Founding Fathers wanted Christianity taught everywhere, and even in the school system. And now what you see is Christianity is pulled out of the public square; there\u2019s very little left to restrain man\u2019s natural sinful impulses and so murders like this result. And because we\u2019re living in a generation of people that think well, the way to control people is to make the government bigger, what we\u2019re seeing is our freedoms are gradually deteriorating in this country because we\u2019ve lost sight of what George Washington said and we\u2019ve lost sight of the idea that freedom only comes if people can control themselves. If they can\u2019t control themselves the only option you have left is big government which ends up encroaching upon rights and taking rights away.\n\nSo be in prayer for our country; we\u2019re at a really delicate time in our history and it\u2019s so tragic to, not just see a shooting but to hear all of the misunderstandings of how to solve these things. And we really need to get back to our founding principles.\n\nWell, here we are in the book of 2 Timothy which is all about finishing well. It\u2019s essentially a call to Christian perseverance. Paul, of course, is the author of this book; he is an apostle. He is writing to a very young man named Timothy who is shrinking back in his calling as the pastor over the church at Ephesus. This is the very last letter Paul wrote; he wrote it, as I\u2019ll show you today, just prior to his death, prior to his own martyrdom. He\u2019s writing it from his second imprisonment in Rome. He\u2019s dealing with a very timid Timothy and he\u2019s teaching him how to endure in his calling. And this book is very special to us because it represents Paul\u2019s last word and testament and the book as a whole is a great motivator for us, a great encouragement regarding how we are to endure in what God has called us to do.\n\nWe have moved into the beginning of the book, where in chapter 1 you have a general call to faithfulness in the ministry. And Paul has given Timothy a greeting, he has offered a thanksgiving for Timothy\u2019s life. He has drawn attention to Timothy\u2019s gifting, how this young man named Timothy had a very special ministry gift and he is to use that gift for the glory of God and the edification of God\u2019s people, and how he is called to be courageous in these times in which he found himself where he was so intimidated by what was happening around him and he was shrinking back and being less aggressive and assertive in the ministry.\n\nThen we moved into verses 8-14 where you have this very long section where Timothy is called by Paul not to be ashamed. It\u2019s a call to unashamedness, and in the process he says Timothy one of the things you are to be unashamed of is the gospel. And he begins to give a beautiful articulation of the gospel, what the gospel does for people and why it is to be shared with vigor and aggressiveness and also boldness.\n\nAnd in the process of describing the gospel Paul essentially highlights three things: number 1, the benefits of the gospel, verses 9-10. Number 2, Paul\u2019s connection to the gospel, why did Paul give himself so aggressively and self-sacrificially for the cause of the gospel, that\u2019s in verses 11-12. And then finally verses 13-14 wraps up that section on the gospel as Timothy is told to preserve the gospel, to defend the gospel, to stand firm on the principles of the gospel.\n\nAnd we just began last time verses 9-10, which hopefully, God willing, we will finish today, the benefits of the gospel. Why aggressively and boldly share the gospel? Why make the gospel the centerpiece of your ministry and our activities as Christians. The answer to that is the gospel brings with it certain benefits that you cannot get in any other source of information. Those benefits are, as we saw last week, the gospel\u2019s saving power; the gospel is the dunamis power of God unto salvation.\n\nWe also saw last week in verse 9 that the gospel is a manifestation of divine grace. You don\u2019t see the grace of God articulated in any other single thing other than the gospel; certainly we can point to God\u2019s grace in different things but nowhere is it as vividly portrayed and as vividly pictured as in the gospel. You remove the gospel you remove the teaching device that God has given the world about His grace and unmerited favor.\n\nAnd we pick it up there at the end of verse 9 where we learn about the gospel\u2019s eternality. Notice, if you will, the second part of verse 9, I\u2019ll just go ahead and read all of verse 9. Paul writes to Timothy, beginning in verse 9, \u201cwho 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 granted us in Christ Jesus\u201d notice this last little expression here, \u201cfrom all eternity.\u201d\n\nWe covered the earlier part of verse 9 last time but notice that last little expression, \u201cfrom all eternity.\u201d The gospel is not something that Paul dreamed up on his own. The gospel is not something new with Paul. If that were true then nobody up to Paul could be saved. The gospel is the eternal outworking of God\u2019s purposes; it was something that was planned in the mind of God before the world was, in eternity past.\n\nPaul is very clear that the gospel is not new to him. For example, in Romans 1:2 Paul says this: \u201cPaul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, [2] which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.\u201d When Paul talks about \u201cbeforehand\u201d in the Scriptures he is talking about the Hebrew Bible and how the gospel itself is something that is progressively unveiled as you move through what we sometimes call the Old Testament, which is better named Hebrew Bible. The gospel doesn\u2019t start with Paul; Paul is simply the latest carrier of the truth and now Timothy is to pick up the baton and run his lap in this race. So Timothy, if you drop the ball, if you shrink back you are shrinking back on something that in the mind of God is His eternal message.\n\nIn fact, the very first reference to the gospel, I believe in the entire Bible, goes back to the book of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 15. This was right after the fall of man and God begins to reveal His redemptive purpose for man as He speaks to both the serpent, who is the devil, and the woman, Eve. He says this: \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d There is coming one from the seed of the woman, in this case it would be Eve, her descendants, who is going to deal a decisive and fatal blow to Satan, and from that point on the whole world and the devil himself is put on notice that the gospel is on the horizon.\n\nI believe the very second reference to the gospel is in Genesis 3:21, it\u2019s hard to understand Genesis 3:21 until you understand Genesis 3:7. Genesis 3:7 says, \u201cThen the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.\u201d Genesis 3:7 represents the first act of religion in the Bible. Religion is man trying to climb his way up to God through his own merit. Man tries to do something to fix his fallen condition before God, and the world today is very wrapped up in religion, which is always defined by what we do.\n\nBut in that mindset and in that climate and mentality the Lord reveals the gospel, and that\u2019s in Genesis 3:21, which says this: \u201cThe LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.\u201d You will not gain favor with Me through your own acts of righteousness, God says to our forbearers, Adam and Eve. Rather, what will happen is I will clothe you, I will do the work. Now where did these garments of skin come from? Obviously what happened is an innocent animal, or scapegoat, was killed right then and there. And God took the skins of that sacrificed animal and He used them to clothe Adam and Eve.\n\nAnd you say well, what did the poor scapegoat do that was wrong? The answer is nothing. It was an innocent sacrifice, and God through the transaction of putting to death an innocent sacrifice, or substitute, corrected man\u2019s problem and his fallen condition in Genesis 3. That, in a nutshell, is the gospel. The gospel is not what we do for God; the gospel is what God has done for us and our accepting what He has done as a free gift. Had Adam and Eve rejected those coverings in Genesis 3:21 and sought to stand before God through their own sewed fig leaves they would have been rejected by God.\n\nAnd yet how many people today are standing before God through their own fig leaves that they have put together, their own works of self-righteousness, their own lists of do\u2019s and don\u2019ts, their own misguided view that if the good deeds they do outweigh the bad deeds then somehow God is obligated to let them into heaven.\n\nThat is NOT how it works, it has never worked that way. God has made that clear going back to the beginning, that we are what we are in God not because of what we do but because of what He has done for us. We do not do the work, He has done the work; the work is complete, as we celebrated at the Lord\u2019s Table this morning. We are simply to receive it as a free gift. There is only one way in the mind of God to receive a free gift and that is by faith. But you\u2019ll notice that this gospel that Paul had pledged his life to promote and to protect is not something new with Paul, it is something that goes all the way back to the beginning.\n\nThe word \u201ceternity\u201d here is also interesting because Revelation 13:8 says this: \u201cAll who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.\u201d There is a parallel passage in Revelation 17:8 and it says this: \u201cThe beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.\u201d\n\nNotice in both of those verses in the book of Revelation it says people\u2019s names written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. You almost get this idea that when you believe the gospel God records your name in a special book, called \u201cthe book of life,\u201d and what is so interesting to observe is those names are recorded in that book \u201cfrom the foundation of the world.\u201d This speaks of the sovereignty of God; this speaks of the omniscience of God. Somehow when we exercise our free will as we come under the inspiration, and better said, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we discover that we are fulfilling a divine blueprint from the foundation of the world.\n\nAnd so does the Bible teach the sovereignty of God or does it teach the free will of man and the answer to that is yes. You say well, pastor, if I\u2019m really a free moral agent and if I really made a decision to trust in Christ as my Savior, how can it be that my name has already been written in the Lamb\u2019s book of life from the foundation of the world? My answer is I have no idea, ask God. I just know the Bible teaches these two great truths and I stopped a long time ago trying to explain it because it\u2019s obviously above my pay grade and it\u2019s obviously something that is communicated to us from outside of time. An infinite God communicated this idea to us.\n\nAt Sugar Land Bible Church we believe in the sovereignty of God; at Sugar Land Bible Church we believe in the free will of man. We allow both sets of texts to live in tension with each other. We do not follow the error that is so common in Calvinism that they use the sovereignty verses to re-write the free will verses. We do not follow the error that is so common in Arminianism where we use the free will verses to rewrite the sovereignty verses. We simply plead mystery and allow both to make their contribution that they want to make.\n\nThis, perhaps, is what is on Paul\u2019s mind when he says about this gospel granted to us \u201cin Christ Jesus from all eternity.\u201d When we believe it we are fulfilling the eternal plan of God and the gospel is not something that man created; the gospel is something that God created. It does not begin with Paul, it did not even begin with the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. It didn\u2019t even begin in the Garden of Eden. It was something that was planned in the councils from all eternity in eternity past.\n\nSo Timothy, you need to be aggressive about this gospel because this is not your own thinking; this is not your own plan. This is part of the eternal purpose and the eternal plan of God. Multiple eons of time and centuries have elapsed and now the gospel is in my hands, Paul says, and it\u2019s being transferred into your hands. And don\u2019t reinvent everything, don\u2019t reinvent ministry, just take this precious truth and this commodity as you understand it and pass it on to someone else. This is not a time, Paul says to Timothy, to become timid; this is a time to be more assertive given the power of the message that has been handed to you.\n\nThe gospel does something else in terms of benefit; it does something else in verse 10 and we\u2019ll spend most of our time this morning here in verse 10, it conquers death. Notice, if you will, verse 10, Paul writes, \u201cbut now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.\u201d\n\nNotice this reference, verse 10, to the fact that the gospel is something that abolishes death. Paul, in verse 10, uses the word \u201crevealed.\u201d The gospel has been personified in this man, Jesus Christ, to the fullest extent. Jesus Christ has appeared. And then you\u2019ll also notice in verse 10 that the gospel has appeared in Jesus Christ, now notice the title that is given to Jesus Christ in verse 10, He is referred to as \u201cour Savior.\u201d Jesus is my Savior, the Apostle Paul says and Timothy, He is your Savior as well.\n\nOne of the great designations of Christ is this very interesting term \u201cSavior.\u201d Why is He called \u201cSavior?\u201d Because He\u2019s rescuing. Luke 19:10 puts it this way, as Jesus is speaking, \u201cFor the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.\u201d Jesus has come into the world to rescue man; He seeks and He saves; in that sense He would be the ultimate life preserver.\n\nNow we have to ask a question: why is it that we need to be saved? If we do not understand why it is that we need to be saved then the gospel message is something that is nonsensical to us; the gospel makes no sense. I think it was Dwight Moody who said you\u2019ve got to get a man lost before you get him saved. People have to see their need to reach out for a life preserver because they are drowning; if they don\u2019t understand they are drowning there\u2019s no incentive to reach out for the life preserver. And this is what I like the call the concept of the other side of the good news. There obviously must be something that we are being saved from, and because we hear so little preaching and teaching today in 21st century American Christianity about what we are being saved from, which I like to call the other side of the good news, the gospel remains a mystery to people. They see no need for the gospel.\n\nYour average person today hears the gospel and they say well, I\u2019m glad that works for you, I\u2019m glad you\u2019ve found enlightenment with you guru, but I\u2019m happy with my life. After all, I\u2019m successful, I\u2019ve got 2.5 kids, my house is almost paid off, I\u2019m admired in the community, I\u2019m glad Jesus works for you, I\u2019m glad you need Jesus but as for me and my house we have no need for this gospel. And the reason they think that way is they do not understand the other side of the good news.\n\nPaul, here in verse 10, tells us the other side of the good news when he begins to talk about this reality of death. Notice again verse 10, \u201cbut now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.\u201d The ultimate benefit of the gospel, which is why Timothy should not shrink back from it, is it saves or it delivers from death.\n\nNow we throw this word \u201cdeath\u201d around so frequently; we use it so frequently and there\u2019s so little teaching on what death is most of us really don\u2019t know exactly what it is we\u2019re talking about. The penalty for sin is death! That was announced before the fall, in Genesis 2:16-17, it says, \u201cThe LORD God commanded the man, saying, \u2018From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; [17] but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.\u2019\u201d\n\nEzekiel 18:20 says, \u201cThe soul that sins shall surely die.\u201d James 1:14-15 puts it this way, \u201cBut each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. [15] Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is accomplished brings forth death.\u201d Romans 6:23 says, \u201cFor the wages,\u201d now wage is a cost, \u201cthe wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d\n\nSin brought a wage; sin brought a consequence. Sin brought a price tag, if you will. The Bible is clear, Old Testament and New Testament, pre-fall and post-fall, that that consequence is a reality called \u201cdeath.\u201d That\u2019s the wage, but what exactly is death? Simply put death is separation. If you were to look up the Greek word for death and the Hebrew word for death you would discover that the inherit idea of death is this idea of separation. And what came into the human race as a consequence of sin is death in three dimensions. There are three kinds of death that every single human being is beset by and the only escape from these three types of death is the gospel itself. Let\u2019s go through these three kinds of death one by one, if we could.\n\nNumber 1, there is something called physical death. Now death is separation; when a person physically dies there is a separation between the material, that would be the body, and the immaterial, which I understand as either the soul or the spirit, I take those synonymously. There is a part of us that is designed to live forever called the soul or the psuch\u0113, and then there is the physical body. When a person dies the two separate. That is when someone, theologically anyway, biblically anyway, is pronounced dead. This is something that happened to our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 27:50, it says this: \u201cJesus cried out with a loud voice, and yielded up His Spirit.\u201d After the transaction on the cross was completed there was a separation between the material and the immaterial. The body and the immaterial within Christ separated from one another.\n\nThe exact same thing happened to Stephen, the first martyr of the age of the church. Acts 7:59 says, \u201cThey went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, \u2018Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!\u2019\u201d Within Stephen there was a separation between his body and the spirit or the soul.\n\nAnd so this is what the Lord is saying after the fall; He is articulating the reality of physical death that would now come into the human race, Genesis 3:;19 says this: \u201cBy the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.\u201d Because you have sinned against Me you are going back into the very dirt from which you came. And this is a reality that we call physical death. And as the curse was articulated men began to die.\n\nGenesis 5:5 says \u201cSo all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.\u201d Genesis 5:8 says, \u201cSo all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.\u201d Genesis 5:11 says, \u201cSo all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.\u201d Genesis 5:14 says, \u201cSo all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.\u201d\nVerse 17 says, \u201cSo all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.\u201d Genesis 5:20 says, \u201cSo all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.\u201d\nGenesis 5:27 says, \u201cSo all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty nine years, and he died.\u201d\nGenesis 5:31 says, \u201cSo all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years and he died.\u201d\n\nNow I\u2019ve never been accused of being a genius or anything like that, but it seems to me there\u2019s a pattern here. \u201cHe died,\u201d and \u201che died,\u201d and \u201che died,\u201d what is being described here is the outworking of God\u2019s pronouncement in Genesis 3:19: death came into the human race, human family, whatever name we might want to give it, it is the reality of physical death. The last time I checked the mortality rate is still 100%. If we are not the rapture generation we will go right back into the dirt from which we came as the material and the immaterial separate.\n\nNow that\u2019s only part of the equation; that would be bad enough, wouldn\u2019t it. But there\u2019s a second kind of death that we call spiritual death. Death is a separation and this type of death is speaking of a separation between a human being and the presence of God; a separation, if you will, between a human being and the Holy Spirit.\n\nIsaiah 59:1-2 puts it this way: \u201cBehold, the LORD\u2019s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. [2] But your iniquities have made a separation\u201d see that word \u201cseparation,\u201d \u201ca separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.\u201d It\u2019s not that God can\u2019t hear, it\u2019s not that God can\u2019t reach, but there is a gulf now between you and God because he is not present with you and this is a reality that we call spiritual death. We are born into the world subject to the law of physical death, which is inevitable; we are born into the world also spiritually dead, separated from God. That is our condition. You are born into the world and your eyesight works great, your hearing works great, your respiratory system works great, muscular system may be working great, cardiovascular system may be working great, you\u2019re alive at the soul level. But you have no life of God in you at the spiritual level; you have no presence of the Holy Spirit within you. It\u2019s not that you can\u2019t be interested in the things of God or the things of the Spirit but you don\u2019t have that capacity without the Spirit of God in a person. That is our condition.\n\nEphesians 2:1 says, \u201cAnd you were dead in your trespasses and sins.\u201d And if that weren\u2019t bad enough, there\u2019s a third form of death, and this is something called eternal death. Death is separation; so what, then, is eternal death? Eternal death is a separation of a person from the divine presence of God throughout eternity in a place of conscious torment. This is not something that I could have or a human being could have even made up it\u2019s so horrific.\n\nAnd yet the Bible tells us about this reality called eternal death over and over again. Revelation 2:11 says this: \u201c\u2018He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.\u2019\u201d The \u201csecond death,\u201d what does that mean? One thing I love about the Scripture is the Scripture is its own best interpreter.\n\nLater on in the same book, the book of Revelation, chapter 20, verses 14-15, it says this: \u201cThen death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. [15] And if anyone\u2019s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.\u201d The \u201clake of fire\u201d therefore, is defined as \u201cthe second death.\u201d This is our destiny without Christ. We enter into, ultimately, the lake of fire which is the second death.\n\nNow how long does the lake of fire last for? I\u2019m glad you asked. Revelation 14:11 puts it this way: \u201cAnd the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark\u201d of the beast. How long does this eternal death last? Well, as the name implies, it lasts forever. In fact, the Bible is so clear about this it doesn\u2019t just say forever in Revelation 14:11, it says, \u201cforever and ever.\u201d The Greek word here, as I\u2019ll explain in just a minute, is the Greek word ai\u014dnios and it\u2019s used not once but it\u2019s used twice to make sure that we get the point.\n\nRevelation 19:20 says this: \u201cAnd the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.\u201d\n\nRevelation 20:10 says this: \u201cAnd the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are\u2026.\u201d Now when you study the chronology of the book of Revelation and you look at Revelation 19:20 and compare it to Revelation 20:10 you\u2019ll see that there are a thousand years between those verses. What is happening here is the beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire; a thousand years later Satan is thrown into the lake of fire and the Bible is very clear that the beast and the false prophet are still there. Once again it says, \u201cwhere the beast and the false prophet are.\u201d Now not if the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses come to your house but when they come to your house they will try to convince you of this doctrine, if you get into a conversation with them, called annihilationism, which is this idea that the soul just sort of explodes or ceases to exist. And that\u2019s about as bad as it can get for the unbeliever; sadly even angelic academics, like Clark Pinnock, are promoting within evangelical circles this doctrine of annihilation. And such a teaching, although it\u2019s more comfortable to think about from the human point of view, is an idea that is foreign to the Scripture because the Bible is very clear that the beast and the false prophet are still there a thousand years later. They didn\u2019t explode, they didn\u2019t terminate, they did not cease to exist. They went into what the Scripture calls the second death. And then it says in Revelation 20:10, \u201c\u2026they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d\n\nYou say well, you\u2019re just trying to scare people. Listen, there\u2019s something to be scared of! If it wasn\u2019t in the Scripture and we weren\u2019t warned about it\u2026 I think fear can be a very powerful motivator, to be honest with you. If you start throwing a wet blanket on this doctrine, the way Clark Pinnock and others are doing, and you destroy the whole impetus to get the gospel to the unsaved. If eternal death is really not that bad and eternal, then if someone dies without the gospel no big consequence.\n\nBut how different it is when the Scripture tells us about the reality of this eternal death. Notice \u201cforever and ever,\u201d that\u2019s the word ai\u014dnios, not used once but twice. It\u2019s not just a subject found in the book of Revelation. You\u2019ll find it in Matthew 25:46, it says, \u201cThese will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.\u201d Notice that \u201ceternal,\u201d the Greek word, ai\u014dnios, is used to describe punishment, and then the word is used a second time to describe life. You ask your average Christian is eternal life forever, they would say yes. Well, then linguistically, because the exact same word is used to describe punishment, then hell itself is eternal. You cannot play this semantical game where part of it is eternal and the other part is not eternal; the laws of logic and language won\u2019t allow that.\n\nBeyond that, ai\u014dnios is used to describe, not just life, not just punishment, but it\u2019s also used to describe God. Romans 16:26 calls God the eternal God. [Romans 16:26, \u201cbut now is manifested and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God\u2026.\u201d]\n\nDo you believe God is forever? Yes, we believe that because the word ai\u014dnios is used to describe God. Great, then so is life, that\u2019s eternal as well because the same word is used to describe life in Matthew 25:46. Great; then so is punishment because the exact same word, ai\u014dnios is used to describe not just God, not just life, but also eternal punishment.\n\nThe Old Testament gets into the act too. Daniel 12:2 puts it this way: \u201cmany of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.\u201d Don\u2019t shut the verse off midway through; let the whole verse speak. Let God say what He wants to say through His inspired Word.\n\nIs life eternal? Yes! Then so is contempt. Now here we\u2019re dealing with the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible which was written primarily in Hebrew; the Greek word in the New Testament is ai\u014dnios the Hebrew word in the Old Testament language is olam. Notice that olam is used to describe both life and then the word is re-used translated \u201ceverlasting\u201d to describe contempt. Notice also in Psalm 90:2 that the identical word, olam, is used to describe God Himself. Psalm 90:2 says, \u201cBefore the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.\u201d You say well, what is the Hebrew word translated \u201ceverlasting?\u201d It\u2019s olam, the exact same word that\u2019s used to describe life, Daniel 12:2, the exact same word that\u2019s used to describe contempt, Daniel 12:2.\n\nIf you believe God is forever and life is forever, and the word olam is used to describe all of these concepts, then punishment itself must be eternal as well. If ai\u014dnios is used in the Greek New Testament to describe God and the same word is used to describe life, then basic laws of language demand that punishment itself must be eternal.\n\nYou see, what we are not understanding today in the 21st century is we are in a lot of trouble. Death has entered the picture at three levels, physical, as we have defined it, spiritual as we have defined it, and eternal as we have defined it. And only if these concepts and these doctrines are understood does the gospel even seem remotely desirable to us; otherwise we see no need for the gospel.\n\nWhat does the gospel do for us? Verse 10 once again, \u201cbut now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.\u201d The gospel is your only ticket out is what Paul is saying. There is nothing else which can reverse this painful and difficult predicament that we are in, other than the gospel. The gospel is not an option, it\u2019s the ONLY option.\n\nWhat does the gospel do? And before we talk about what the gospel does, just a few verses on the nagging plague of death. Hebrews 9:27 says, \u201c\u2026it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.\u201d Hebrews 2:14-15 says, \u201cTherefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, [15] and He might free those who through fear\u201d of death \u201cwere subject to slavery all their lives.\u201d\n\nWithout the Bible the human race has no explanation for death; it is just something that is happening to us. We fear it because we really do not know, without the light of the Scripture, what happens on the other side. We just know that death is a reality and without the Bible we don\u2019t know why it\u2019s a reality, and what the solution is. And how important it is to have our minds enlightened and illuminated by the Word of God where we not only understand how it came into existence but how to get out of this problem.\n\nThis is why Timothy cannot shrink back in his deliverance of the gospel; this is why he cannot succumb to fear, because if the spokesman of God, who have the answers, succumb to fear what hope does the world have? The message, which is the only thing that can help people, simply cannot spread. The gospel, what it does in terms of abolishing death and bringing to life and all of these things spoken of in verse 10 is it reverses death itself.\n\nIt reverses death at all three levels. Number 1, it reverses physical death because although we are in bodies that will be subject to death, in the gospel you have the promise of a resurrection. The day will come where you will be placed in a body, which will still be you, I\u2019ll be able to recognize you and you\u2019ll be able to recognize me, but I\u2019m going to look a lot better than I do now and you\u2019re going to look a lot better, because you\u2019ll be in a body where the very curse, \u201cfrom dust you are, to dust you return,\u201d which subjects us to the law of death is pulled out of that body. You cannot have this promise of the new body in any other source other than the gospel.\n\nBeyond that the gospel itself reverses spiritual death, you remember how we defined spiritual death, it\u2019s the separation of the human being from the Holy Spirit, we are born into this world spiritually dead but the conviction of God comes upon us, John 16:7-11, we believe the gospel, and then God does a miracle. [John 16:7, \u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. [8]\u201cAnd He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; [10] and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; [11]and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.\u201d]\n\nThe miracle, contrary to what you hear in Reformed circles, does not precede faith; there are no verses of Scripture that tell us that this miracle precedes faith, it comes as a result of faith. People confuse, constantly, the means with the benefit. The means is faith alone, in Christ alone. The benefit is the Spirit of God, which we do not have in us prior to faith, enters us. And that\u2019s why Jesus, when He was speaking to Nicodemus, I like to call him \u201cNick at Night,\u201d John 3, talks about the necessity of the new birth. \u201cDo not marvel when I say to you,\u201d Jesus says to Nicodemus, \u201cthat you must be born again.\u201d [John 3:7] Notice the word \u201cmust.\u201d It\u2019s not a casual option. If you do not have faith in Christ you do not have the Spirit of Christ inside of you.\n\nIt doesn\u2019t matter how faithful you are in church. It doesn\u2019t matter what good deeds you have done. It doesn\u2019t matter if the good is somehow going to outweigh the bad at the end. All of that is irrelevant. If you do not have Christ you do not have the Spirit of Christ; there is only one type of Christian and that is the born again Christian. I used to think well, there\u2019s the Presbyterian Christians over there, there\u2019s the Methodist Christians over there, there\u2019s the Baptist Christians over there. Oh, and then there\u2019s the born again Christians.\n\nThe fact of the matter is, if you\u2019re not a born again Christian you\u2019re not a Christian. Romans 8:9 says if you do not have the Spirit of Christ you do not have Christ. [Romans 8:9, \u201c\u2026 But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.\u201d] The gospel, then, is the solution to this horrible reality called spiritual death.\n\nAnd what about eternal death? If you find yourself \u201cin Christ\u201d all of the passages that relate to the second death or the eternal death are not applicable to you. You have no part whatsoever in the lake of fire. A little slogan that has helped me with this concept goes as follows, and it fits with this description as the lake of fire is the second death: If you\u2019re born once you\u2019ll die twice; if you\u2019re born twice you\u2019ll die once.\u201d\n\nIf a person is born physically but they never trust in Christ, they never experience the new birth, then what is going to happen to them is they will physically die and they will go eventually into their ultimate destination, which is the Lake of Fire. Conversely if someone is born twice, they are born physically into the world, and there reaches a point in their life where they hear the gospel under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and they believe the gospel, and the Holy Spirit enters them, and they\u2019re born twice, consequently then the worst possible thing that can happen to them is physical death.\n\nIn fact, we might not even have to face physical death if we are the rapture generation. If you are a Christian then the worst possibility is physical death. Paul had no fear of physical death. If you are afraid of dying as a Christian you are living beneath your privileges because Paul articulated so forcefully, \u201cto be absent from the body is to be\u201d what? \u201cpresent with the Lord.\u201d [2 Corinthians 5:8, \u201cwe are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.\u201d]\n\nPaul, in fact, says I would rather die and go be with Christ, which is far better, but for your sake I will continue on in the body. [Philippians 1:23-24, \u201cBut I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; [24] yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.\u201d]\n\nDo you see what the gospel does? Do you see how it reverses this predicament that we are in? 1 Corinthians 15:26 of the gospel says this: \u201cThe last enemy that will be abolished is death.\u201d God, who understands the predicament that we are in, better than anybody given His omniscience, has provided the solution. Then end game of everything God is doing is to abolish, to get rid of death, which entered the picture in Genesis 3. 1 Corinthians 15:54-56 says this: \u201cBut when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, \u201cDEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. [55] \u201cO DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?\u2019 [56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; [57] but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d]\n\nAnd in fact, when God redoes the universe as he puts an end to the physical world that we are in by fire and brings forth a new heavens and new earth, there are many things that we experience today that will be absent in the new heavens and the new earth. One of those things is death.\n\nRevelation 21:4 says, \u201c\u2019and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, orc crying, or pain; the first order of things has passed away.\u201d That\u2019s what Hebrews 2:14-15 is getting at when it says, \u201cTherefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him to had the power of death, that is, the devil, [15] and might free\u201d in other words, liberate, \u201cmight free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.\u201d\n\nI want you to understand that when Paul is talking about these things he is not pontificating from the ivory tower. This is not a theological lesson for Paul. How do I know that? Because 2 Timothy 4:6 says this: \u201cFor I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.\u201d Paul talked about how the gospel conquers death because he was looking death right in the face. There wasn\u2019t any hope this time around of a release from prison. His martyrdom was imminent. He\u2019s not goofing around or playing games, he never does that anyway, but certainly not at this stage in life. And he could articulate so clearly what the gospel does, and why Timothy should not shrink back from the gospel. It is the only ticket out, is what he\u2019s saying. I\u2019m about to ready to leave, Paul says, through martyrdom; my only hope is the gospel and God forbid, Timothy, if you are to shrink back from this message you are depriving people of the only message they can possibly hear that will help them with their condition. Only the gospel can reverse physical, spiritual and eternal death, which makes the sharing of the gospel today very easy, doesn\u2019t it.\n\nSince we know the problem, as the Bible has described it, what is the solution? The solution is what it\u2019s always been for the last 6,000 of human history, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. The only solution is the gospel, where an innocent scapegoat is punished in the place of the guilty. We call it the gospel because Jesus did it all. We simply receive it by way of faith. God is not going to force it on you. He will put you under conviction, He will make you uncomfortable, He will help you see your need for it, but you have to do something and the human mind, if left to its own devices wants to do works. God says you can\u2019t get it that way. You can only get it by way of faith, which is the single condition for salvation.\n\nAnother way of saying faith is trust, reliance, or dependence. It\u2019s not something you walk an aisle to do, raise a hand to do, join a church to do, it\u2019s a personal moment between you and the Lord where the Spirit convicts you of your need for this gospel and you respond the best way you know how in the privacy of your own mind, thoughts and heart you receive this gift, you do it by way of faith. You place your confidence in the promises of Christ and Christ alone for your eternity. You place your confidence not in yourself, not in your denomination, not in your religiosity, not in your ritual, but in Christ and Christ alone for your eternity.\n\nIf that is something you have done in your life or it\u2019s something you\u2019re doing now as I speak you have just altered everything; your whole eternal destiny has been altered. The three deaths are reversed in your life. It really is the most critical decision a human being has to make. And it\u2019s almost as if God gives us just enough time where He allows men and women to make this decision to believe. You don\u2019t walk an aisle to receive it, you don\u2019t raise a hand to receive it, you don\u2019t try to do better through good intentions to receive it, you don\u2019t give money to receive it, but you simply receive it by way of faith, which is trust, reliance, or confidence.\n\nWhat a tragedy it would be for someone to sit here as I am speaking and hear about these three forms of death and leave this room without this situation resolved. The three levels of death are a reality but they are not an inevitability if we respond to the gospel. I hope and pray that you\u2019ll do that. If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk. Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we remain grateful for verse 9 and verse 10 and what the gospel does for us, what the gospel says to us. Help us to be a people that believe the gospel; help us to see it for what it is, and give us the boldness and courage this week, Father, we pray to share this good news, the only news that can help somebody, someone we don\u2019t know this week. We ask that you will bless our fellowship time that follows, we thank You for the meal and the provision and we\u2019re grateful for the hands that prepared it. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t