{"id":18202,"date":"2015-11-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-29T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-012-thankful-for-two-things\/"},"modified":"2022-01-13T09:49:44","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T15:49:44","slug":"2-timothy-012-thankful-for-two-things","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-012-thankful-for-two-things\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 012 – Thankful for Two Things"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18202","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 012 - Thankful for Two Things","sermon_date":"20151129","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2015","sermon_notes":3030,"sermon_slides":20104,"sermon_mp3":20105,"sermon_id":"1129151111294","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"2:9-10","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\r\nTwo Things to be Thankful For\r\n11-29-15 2 Timothy 2:8-10 Lesson 12\r\n\r\nGood morning everyone. If we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 2, beginning at verse 8. As God allows it we\u2019re going to try to make it from verse 8 to verse 10 this morning, continuing to move at light speed\u2026, more like a snail\u2019s pace but when you\u2019re eating a meal you don\u2019t want to just gobble it down, you want to kind of enjoy it slowly. Right? A good reminder for Thanksgiving, since we did a lot of gobbling in more than one way I guess, literally and figuratively.\r\n\r\n2 Timothy 2:8-10, the title of our message this morning is Two Things to be Thankful For, so we\u2019re kind of wrapping up the series of days, giving thanks for our blessings and the passage that we\u2019re looking at this morning gives us two things that we can be thankful for beyond the many things we celebrated this last week. One of them is Jesus, verse 8, and the second thing is the work that God accomplished through Paul, the apostle, verses 9-10.\r\n\r\nOf course, the point of this entire book is perseverance. Paul is not writing a book to question whether Timothy is a Christian; he is writing a book questioning whether Timothy is going to endure in his calling, despite adversity. We\u2019ve seen chapter 1, sort of a general call to endurance, why Timothy should endure, and we move from there into chapter 2 where Paul basically gives ten metaphors for endurance.\r\n\r\nWhat exactly does endurance look like? Well, endurance, first of all, is to be accomplished under the grace of God, as we have talked about, verse 1. But endurance is sort of like that of a teacher, verse 2, it\u2019s kind of like a soldier, verses 3-4, a lot like an athlete, verse 5. And last week we saw that endurance is a lot like a farmer, verse 6. You know a farmer has to be industrious by nature and a farmer goes about his business, not seeing an immediate return on his investment because a crop doesn\u2019t come up that day so he has to operate by faith, trusting the laws of nature. The spiritual life and perseverance in the spiritual life, particularly in Christian service, is largely like that of a farmer as we saw last time.\r\n\r\nAnd then we saw in verse 7 Paul switching subjects, but before he switched subjects he launched what I think is an attack on uncertainty, because he says the Lord is going to give you, Timothy, understanding in everything. And we saw what that meant last time and how that\u2019s so different from the message of the culture, particularly postmodernism which talks about uncertainty often.\r\n\r\nBut after he completes his thoughts in verse 7 he then moves into what I would consider to be the ultimate example of endurance. In other words, there is not, beginning in verse 8, a higher example of endurance than his next example, Jesus Christ. So Paul holds out Jesus as Timothy\u2019s role model. Of course, Jesus is our role model in many, many things but in this area of endurance He is particularly our role model, because when you look at the agony of the cross and the horrors of the cross and everything that Jesus went through for us, and how He could of, at any moment, called the whole thing off, which He did not, we see in Christ a profound example of endurance.\r\n\r\nSo Timothy, when you\u2019re thinking about quitting I want you to think about Jesus, and that\u2019s very good advice for us, isn\u2019t it? We\u2019re thinking about quitting constantly when things get rough, but when we think about quitting we should think of Jesus. Notice verse 8; \u201cRemember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, a descendant of David, according to my gospel.\u201d\r\n\r\nYou\u2019ll notice this expression here, \u201cRemember,\u201d the way the Greek text reads, it\u2019s what you call a Greek imperative verb, simply meaning this is a command. In other words, when we are thinking about quitting, Timothy, when you are thinking about quitting here\u2019s a command for you; I want you to mentally recall, which is what remember means, Jesus Christ. Rather than focusing your eyes on yourself and your circumstances I want you to immediately think of Jesus Christ as your role model in endurance.\r\n\r\nYou\u2019ll notice here in verse 8 that He is called \u201cJesus Christ.\u201d A lot of people think \u201cChrist\u201d is His last name, He would be called Mr. Christ (I guess in their minds). But \u201cChrist\u201d here is not His last name; Christ is His title; Christ simply means the Messiah. In Hebrew it would be the Meshach, the Anointed One. He is the unique Davidic descendant, as we\u2019ll talk about in a moment. He is the one who will rule this world in the coming thousand year kingdom, from Jerusalem. This man Jesus is, in fact, the Christ.\r\n\r\nAnd I want you to remember Jesus, the Christ, when you\u2019re thinking about quitting. I can\u2019t help but thinking about a parallel passage in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12:2, it says this regarding our instructions, and you have to remember the audience in the book of Hebrews is thinking about quitting as well, leaving the New Testament truth and going back into Old Testament truths. The author of Hebrews says when you think about doing that to ward off persecution, think about this: \u201cfixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.\u201d\r\n\r\nNotice the expression, \u201cfixing our eyes.\u201d Where are your eyes fixed today? On yourself, on your problems, on your circumstances, or on Jesus Christ? He is, of course, our example in endurance because He endured the cross and the shame. Think of being hung, as the Son of God, on a cross just like a common criminal would be hung. And yet why did He do that? Because of \u201cthe joy set before Him.\u201d He knew, in other words, what the cross would accomplish, and consequently He endured suffering because He saw something greater that would come out of it, on the other side.\r\n\r\nYou know, if you were the only person on planet earth and the rest of us six to seven billion people just disappeared, if you were the only one here you know Jesus would have gone to the same lengths for you as He went through for the entire world, because when Jesus died on that cross He did not just have the world generically in mind, He had you as an individual in mind as well. And to Him it was a joy, He knew what His death on the cross would accomplish. And so he was able to endure difficulty and hardship because of what it was accomplishing.\r\n\r\nBelieve it or not, beloved, God is accomplishing things through our present circumstances that we can\u2019t even fathom and we need to have our eyes fixed on what God seeks to bring forth rather than on any momentary pain that we may be experiencing. And we look back to what Jesus did and we are just overwhelmed with thanksgiving. What a great thing to talk about during this Thanksgiving time of the year. Thank You Lord for what You did on our behalf! Thank You Lord for what You did on my behalf as an individual and what You accomplished. Where would we be without that. So Timothy, and to those of us by extension, you\u2019re thinking about throwing in the towel I want you to think about Jesus, who very easily could have thrown in the towel but did not.\r\n\r\nNow the problem, though, becomes this: there are a lot of different Jesus\u2019 in the world. If you hear the name Jesus that\u2019s not the significant issue. A lot of people throw around the word \u201cJesus\u201d and they mean different things by it. The issue is what meaning are people pouring into the word \u201cJesus\u201d? To some people Jesus is nothing more than a guru, or a motivational speaker. To other people, like the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, for example, not if they come to your house but when they come to your house they will basically try to sell you on this idea that Jesus is a created being. Sometimes in their theology He is confused with Michael the Archangel. The Mormons, for example, believe that Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer. The New Age movement believe that Jesus is just one of many ascended masters. Islam believes, as Shahram pointed out to us a couple of Sundays ago, that Jesus is sort of a sidekick of Allah, and He\u2019ll come back, and actually Jesus never went to the cross to die for the sins of the world.\r\n\r\nSo people throw this word \u201cJesus\u201d around constantly, Jesus this, Jesus that. The issue is never the word \u201cJesus,\u201d the issue is the meaning that people pour into the word \u201cJesus.\u201d When you use the word \u201cJesus\u201d what in the world are you talking about? Paul here is very specific on which Jesus he has in mind. And in fact, the way Paul describes Jesus it\u2019s quite different than how the world describes Jesus.\r\n\r\nNotice verse 8, \u201cRemember Jesus Christ,\u201d now he gives two qualities of Jesus, number 1, He has \u201crisen from the dead,\u201d and number 2, He is the \u201cdescendant of David\u2026.\u201d Who, then, is the correct Jesus? The correct Jesus is not simply the crucified Son of God for the sins of the world, but He is also the risen Son of God for the sins of the world. The cross of Jesus Christ, obviously was a big deal, but what He accomplished on the cross means virtually nothing if there wasn\u2019t a subsequent resurrection from the dead.\r\n\r\nWhy is that? Because His resurrection from the dead authenticated every teaching and word that He ever spoke, because He Himself predicated belief in Him upon His bodily resurrection from the dead. He said look, I\u2019m about to be killed, and on the third day I will rise, and if He had not risen exactly like He said then we could simply attribute His teachings to an ordinary madman or lunatic. This is why the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, \u201cand if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.\u201d Had Jesus not risen from the dead there\u2019s no sense in preaching about Him because He was just an ordinary person, He certainly didn\u2019t arise to the level of deity. And believing in Him has no real significance either because you\u2019re just believing in an ordinary person who really can\u2019t pull off what He\u2019s promised to do for you, which is secure your eternity, if you in fact do trust in Him.\r\n\r\nSo Christianity rises or falls with the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. And where exactly did Jesus go after He rose from the dead? Well, he was on the earth for about forty days, Acts chapter 1, and then He ascended, Acts 1, to the right hand of the Father. In fact, the verse I quoted earlier, Hebrews 12:2 says that He \u201cHas sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.\u201d Well, what\u2019s He doing up there? And why is He sitting? Well, the reason He is sitting at the Father\u2019s right hand is to signify that His work is completed. Remember the final words that he proclaimed from the cross, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d which is actually an English translation from the Greek word, tetelestai, which is an accounting term, which simply means paid in full. There\u2019s nothing else for Jesus to do in terms of procuring our salvation. That\u2019s all been paid for.\r\n\r\nBut just because His work on the cross is completed and the sin debt of the world has been paid for you should not think that Jesus is somehow inactive. In fact, the book of Hebrews, chapter 7 and verse 25 puts it this way: \u201cTherefore He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.\u201d What is intercession? It is praying on behalf of someone else. That\u2019s what intercession is. And what Hebrews 7:25 indicates is that Jesus, at the right hand of the Father, always lives to intercede for us.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s interesting, it says here \u201cHe lives to make intercession,\u201d you know, when someone says I live for the weekend they\u2019re basically saying my whole life revolves around the weekend. What does Jesus live for? He does not live for the weekend; He lives to pray for us. His whole purpose, His whole sense of being at the Father\u2019s right hand is to make intercession on our behalf. And so we serve, not just a crucified Savior, we serve not just a risen Savior, but we serve a living Savior who is active at the right hand of the Father who can\u2019t wait to pray on our behalf. And He is performing currently a very vital ministry; the technical name for that ministry is the present session of Christ.\r\n\r\nAnd one of the great tragedies of Christianity is we place so much stress on what Jesus did on the cross, as wonderful as that is, and we place so much stress on what Jesus will do when He comes back, and that\u2019s a wonderful teaching also, but we have (in many cases) lost sight of what He is doing right now. Jesus is not just a yesterday thing and a tomorrow thing but He is a right now thing, active at the Father\u2019s right hand in His present session, a session that would be impossible had Jesus not resurrected from the dead. And so Paul here places a particular emphasis on what Jesus he is talking about when he uses this clause, \u201crisen from the dead.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow what else do we learn about Jesus? Not only has He risen from the dead, verse 8, but He is also the \u201cdescendant of David.\u201d Well why is that significant? It\u2019s significant because going back to Genesis 15 God made to the patriarch Abram, whose name later would be changed to Abraham, He made a covenant, God did, with Abraham. Israel is the only nation in the history of the world that has a covenant with God.\r\n\r\nNow you say well, doesn\u2019t the United States of America have a covenant with God? Well, in a certain sense we do, it\u2019s called the Mayflower Compact; we, and this is all very well documented in American history, it\u2019s what America\u2019s settlers, it\u2019s a good thing to think of around Thanksgiving time, as we just are exiting Thanksgiving, America\u2019s settlers came to these shores and they put together what\u2019s called the Mayflower Compact, and that\u2019s basically a contract that they made with God. They made a contract with each other and they made a contract with God. But with Israel it\u2019s different, Israel did not make a contract with God; God made a contract with who? Israel.\r\n\r\nSo Israel is the only nation in the history of mankind that has a contract originating with God and going to a specific people in a specific nation. And in that contract God promised to Abraham and his descendants, later would become the Jewish people, three things: land, which is a tract of real estate essentially from modern day Egypt to modern day Iraq, you can read about it and its borders in Genesis 15:18-21. [Genesis 15:18-21, \u201cOn that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, \u2018To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: [19] the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite [20] and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim [21] and the Amorite and the Canaanite and Girgashite and the Jebusite.\u2019\u201d]\r\n\r\nHe promised Abraham blessing, personal blessing. For example, in Genesis 15:1 God promised to Abraham that he would be a reward to Abraham and a shield. [Genesis 15:1, \u201cAfter these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, \u2018Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.\u2019\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd then He promised him also innumerable seed, or descendants. [Genesis 15:5, \u201cAnd He took him outside and said, \u2018Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.\u2019 And He said to him, \u2018So shall your descendants be.\u2019\u201d]\r\n\r\nNow if you can understand that threefold structure you can understand the Bible because the rest of the Bible is God vindicating what He has promised to do to the patriarch, Abraham, for the patriarch Abraham and his descendants. And if God does not do what He has obligated Himself to do then God would be a liar. God cannot lie, the Bible says, it\u2019s impossible for God to lie. [Hebrews 6:18, \u201cso that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie\u2026.\u201d]\r\n\r\nSo all the way through biblical history God is coming alongside Abraham and his descendants and reaffirming and moving, in many instances, heaven and earth to fulfill what He obligated Himself to do. And this is the basis for what we call the sub covenants: the land is amplified in what\u2019s called the land covenant, Deuteronomy 29 and 30. The blessings is amplified in what is called the New Covenant, you\u2019ll find a description of that in Jeremiah 31:31-34. And the seed is amplified in what\u2019s called the Davidic Covenant. The Davidic Covenant is mentioned in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 and it is a promise that through David\u2019s lineage would come a forever throne and an eternal dynasty.\r\n\r\n[Jeremiah 31:31-34, \u201c\u2018Behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, \u2018when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, [32] not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,\u2019 declares the LORD. [33] But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,\u2019 declares the LORD, \u201cI will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. [34] They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, \u2018Know the LORD,\u2019 for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,\u2019 declares the LORD, \u2018for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.\u2019\u201d\r\n\r\n2 Samuel 7:12-16, \u201cWhen your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. [13] \u2018He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. [14] I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of man and the strokes of the sons of men, [15] but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. [18] Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever, your throne shall be established forever.\u2019\u201d] So when Paul mentions here Jesus not just as resurrected, but as a descendant of David He is clarifying which Jesus He is speaking of; He is speaking of Jesus Christ, none other than the One who was the rightful heir to the Davidic Covenant, originating with God\u2019s promises to Abraham.\r\n\r\nAnd this is why the gospel of Matthew, for example, written to Jewish Christians, I believe Matthew was the first of the four gospels written, it was written during a time when the church was still heavily Jewish, Matthew was written to explain to them exactly who the Jesus is that they believed in. And he documents very carefully in the opening chapters the genealogical connection between Jesus and David and Abraham.\r\n\r\nMatthew 1:17 says this: \u201cSo all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations;\u201d he randomly picks fourteen generations, \u201cfrom David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations;\u201d randomly picks fourteen more generations, \u201cand from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.\u201d So you\u2019ll notice that Matthew carefully connects Jesus genealogically, not only back to David as the rightful heir of the Davidic Covenant, but going back to the time if Abraham which is where the seed promises originated which is the foundation of the Davidic Covenant.\r\n\r\nAnd you say well, why does he pick fourteen generations? Three groups of fourteen here? Matthew 1:17, [\u201cSo all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.\u201d] Well, the short answer to that is something called gematria. You say what? Gematria! Gematria is this idea that in ancient languages letters had numbers. So you could take anybody\u2019s name and convert it into either Greek or Hebrew, attach the right number to the right letter, add up the sum of the parts in a person\u2019s name and everybody\u2019s name could be converted to a number. Well, guess what the total for David\u2019s name is in Hebrew gematria.\r\n\r\nIn other words, if you spell out the name David in Hebrew and you attach the right number to the right letter and you add up the totals in David\u2019s name, guess what the total is? It\u2019s fourteen! That\u2019s why Matthew picks three generations and he highlights fourteen names. He\u2019s communicating very aggressively who this man, Jesus Christ is. Jesus is just no ordinary guy that just fell off the turnip truck. This is, Matthew says, the heir to the Davidic throne and I\u2019m establishing that genealogically and I\u2019m also establishing that through something called Hebrew gematria.\r\n\r\nTo those of us in the west in the year 2015 these ideas seem very foreign and strange to us, but if you were a first century Jew these ideas would leap off the page and you would understand exactly what Matthew was seeking to communicate, who Jesus is. He is not a created being, He is not the spirit brother of Lucifer, He is not a motivational speaker, He is not simply a descended master, this is the man who rose from the dead. And He is also the man that is the rightful heir to all of the Old Testament promises spoken of in the Old Testament, particularly the Davidic Covenant.\r\n\r\nYou\u2019ll continue on there in verse 8 and Paul makes this statement: \u201caccording to my gospel.\u201d \u201cRemember, Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according\u201d Paul says, \u201cto my gospel.\u201d Now there is a lot of misteaching out there on this subject of \u201cmy gospel.\u201d Many people believe that when Paul says \u201cmy gospel\u201d it was some kind of gospel that Paul had that no one else ever had or knew about. That cannot be, for the simple reason that Paul has just emphasized two things: number 1, the resurrection of Christ, and number 2, the Davidic ancestry of Christ.\r\n\r\nWas Paul the only one that understood those things? I think not because when you go into Acts 2 what you\u2019ll discover is the Apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, which was the inauguration of the church age, in Acts 2:25-29 you\u2019ll see Peter making a reference to Psalm 16:8-11.\r\n\r\n[Acts 2:25-29, \u201cFor David says of Him, \u201cI SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. [26] THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; [27] BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. [28] \u2018YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.\u2019 [29] Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.\u201d\r\n\r\nPsalm 16:8-11, \u201cI have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my hand, I will not be shaken. [9] Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. [10] For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. [11] You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd in so doing Peter makes this statement in verse 30, right around there, verse 29 actually, \u201cBrethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.\u201d And what he is saying is this Jesus Christ is different than David, whom this Psalm was primarily speaking of but not ultimately because Jesus rose from the dead, and he uses Psalm 16:8-11 to document the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the very thing that Paul is speaking of here.\r\n\r\nFurthermore, down in Acts 2:30 Peter, on the opening sermon on the day of Pentecost says this: \u201cAnd so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT ONE OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE.\u201d Now that is a citation from Psalm 132:11. Psalm 132, particularly verse 11, documents Jesus as the unique Davidic descendant [Psalm 132:11, \u201cThe LORD has sworn to David a truth from which He will not turn back: Of the fruit of your body I will set up your throne.\u201d]\r\n\r\nSo in other words, Peter in Acts 2 is highlighting the very things that Paul is highlighting. What is Paul highlighting? Number 1, the resurrection of Jesus Christ; number 2, the Davidic ancestry of Christ. What is Peter highlighting back in Acts 2? The exact same two things. So therefore when Paul says \u201cmy gospel\u201d he is not saying it is mine and mine alone. What Paul is getting at is it\u2019s my gospel, not exclusively but it\u2019s my gospel in terms of being personally applicable to me. Paul, with his gospel and with Jesus Christ, this was personal. Paul says this is something that\u2019s mine. He\u2019s not saying no one else understood it before me; he\u2019s saying it\u2019s personal to me. It\u2019s not a statement of exclusivity; it\u2019s a statement of personal intimacy.\r\n\r\nAnd I can\u2019t tell you how significant that is because when Paul talks about Jesus he talks about Jesus in terms of a personal relationship. There is a world of difference between knowing about Jesus versus knowing Jesus. There\u2019s a lot of people out there that they know things about Jesus, they can rattle off all kinds of details and information. In fact, I know atheists that are capable of doing that very thing. In fact some atheists and Christ-rejecters might even know the Bible better than a Christian would. They can rattle off facts, they can rattle off information, they can rattle off details but you see, Paul makes a reference to \u201cmy gospel,\u201d it\u2019s not enough to know about Jesus, you have to know Jesus personally. And it really doesn\u2019t matter what your parents believe, I\u2019m not denigrating anybody\u2019s heritage but that\u2019s not really the issue with God because God has no grand-children, He only has children. It doesn\u2019t matter what your denomination teaches; it doesn\u2019t matter what books you\u2019ve read.\r\n\r\nThe issue is not what is in your brain about Jesus that\u2019s a significant issue. The issue is do you know Jesus personally? Do you know Him intimately? Does He speak to you through His Word? Do you speak to Him regularly through prayer? Is it a friendship? After all, are we not compared, Ephesians 5, to the relationship as the church between bride and groom. Is there not, Ephesians 5, intimacy in that type of relationship? Of course there is. That\u2019s what our relationship to God is analogized to.\r\n\r\nOne of the dangers of being a Bible church and a church that focuses on Bible content and Bible doctrine in our sermons and Sunday School lessons and all of the other activities in the church is people get the mistaken notion in their mind that the sum totally of spirituality is what you know about God. And you see, with Paul it was so much deeper than that. Of course Paul is not against knowing things about God, he wrote thirteen letters after all so we can get to know information about God. But you see, Paul says it\u2019s my gospel, this is personal to me, this is intimate with me.\r\n\r\nAnd of course, the question I would have for you is this your level of understanding of Jesus? Is it just facts on a page like reading about George Washington or Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson or any other figure of history? Or is Jesus Christ something different with you? Is there intimacy? Is there a personal relationship? A lot of people think they can get that by sitting in a church. Well, sitting in a church doesn\u2019t make you a Christian any more than sitting in McDonalds makes you a hamburger. Is it wrong to come to church? Of course not, we should not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. [Hebrews 10:25, \u201cnot forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.\u201d] But your connection to a local church, your membership in a local church, your connection to a denomination is not the determining factor with God. The determining factor with God is this yours in terms of personal intimacy?\r\n\r\nOne of the characters of history I love to study is George Washington. I could come up here today and rattle all kinds of information off about George Washington, I could even tell you his favorite verse of the Bible. I could tell you about the verse that\u2019s on his tomb where he was buried. I could tell you about his wife, Martha. I could tell you about his Mt. Vernon estate. I could tell you about the role he played in the establishment of this republic. I could even tell you about the miracles that I believe were brought forth through George Washington to the United States of America. I could talk to you about how he was physically protected many times, supernaturally.\r\n\r\nBut you see, I don\u2019t talk to George Washington. Now if I ever start talking to George Washington there might be some kind of psychological problem( beyond the ones I already possess). Knowing about George Washington is totally different than knowing George Washington. And with Christ it\u2019s not about facts and data and information, and I\u2019m totally pro facts, data and information. But facts, data and information were never intended by God to be the end game. They were always intended by God to be a first step, because God has so much more for us than just us being able to regurgitate information about His Son, Jesus Christ. He wants us to know Him personally.\r\n\r\nNow as Paul concludes verse 8 by talking about my gospel that logically leads him into talking about his next example, if you will, of endurance. And you\u2019ll notice beginning in verses 9 and 10 this is where Paul actually talks about himself. Could you do that to somebody that you were trying to encourage, hold yourself up as an example? Could you do that to somebody who is waning in the faith and thinking about throwing in the towel? Could you hold up yourself as an example and say look at me; follow me as I follow Christ? I don\u2019t know if I could do that. I don\u2019t know how comfortable I really am in people looking to carefully at my own life.\r\n\r\nBut you see, Paul was such a believer in what he was seeking to communicate that he could actually point to himself as an example of endurance. His ultimate example is Christ, then Paul says to young Timothy look at me. And notice what the Apostle Paul writes there in verse 9, \u201cfor which I\u201d that would be Paul, \u201csuffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.\u201d When Paul says \u201cI\u201d he\u2019s talking about himself; it\u2019s a transition from verse 8 where he just mentioned \u201cmy\u201d in terms of the gospel, and he says Timothy, when you are down and discouraged and thinking about throwing in the towel because life\u2019s circumstances are too difficult for you I want you to remember Me. I was imprisoned, I was treated as a common criminal. And in fact, if you think that your problems are severe and if I think my problems are severe I would challenge you this week to read 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 as an example of real suffering.\r\n\r\nPaul writes this in those words, \u201cAre they servants of Christ? \u2013 I speak as if insane \u2013 I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number,\u201d in other words I was beat up so much I lost count of how many times I was beat up, \u201coften in danger of death. [24] Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.\u201d Now if you received the fortieth one you were considered clinically dead because a human being could not endure forty lashes, so they would beat you up to thirty-nine lashes. [25] \u201cThree times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. [16] I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; [37] I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28] Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of my concern for all the churches. [29] Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? [30] If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weaknesses. [31] The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. [32] In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, [33] and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.\u201d\r\n\r\nTime after time his life was threatened. In fact, there was one occasion, and I think Paul is referring to it in 2 Timothy 4, which we will be getting to later on in our study, not today but down the road so I won\u2019t belabor it, but in Timothy\u2019s hometown there were so many rocks thrown at Paul that everybody thought he was dead and went home. I mean, he was just sitting there pummeled with rocks, lifeless, everybody assumed he was dead but he wasn\u2019t dead. When the crowd had dispersed he went right back into the city that they threw rocks at him to complete his assignment from God.\r\n\r\nYou know, as they say many times, it\u2019s\u2019 not getting down that\u2019s the issue, they used to tell us this in sports, it\u2019s not getting knocked down, everybody gets knocked down, it\u2019s are you going to get back up. And how quickly are you going to get back up. And beyond that, what is your attitude as you\u2019re getting back up? That really is the hallmark of true endurance. And it\u2019s so frustrating looking at Christians today; the slightest thing goes wrong and they\u2019re willing to throw in the towel, abandon ship. Any little provocation, any personality conflict, anything that tries our patience, and I\u2019ve got a finger out at you, I\u2019ve got three more coming back at me, don\u2019t I? Because I know I can get like this; it\u2019s so easy to get bruised feelings, a bruised ego, just to say the whole thing is not worth it.\r\n\r\nAnd yet you look at Paul\u2019s life and how can we have that kind of attitude when Paul suffered so much on our behalf? How could we have that attitude when he holds himself out as an example and an illustration of true endurance? And how the prosperity gospel can ignore those verses and portray Christianity as some kind of leisurely, prosperous, healthy activity all of the time is totally beyond me. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re reading the same Bible. I have a tendency to think we\u2019re not because I read passages like this and I do not see promises of prosperity, although I\u2019m not against prosperity if God does it, I do not see promises of leisure, I do not see promises of relaxation. I see American society promoting that, just look at all the commercials, all of the vacations you can go on, all of the retirement retreats, all of the homes you can buy in your golden years, all of this and all of that.\r\n\r\nWe\u2019ve got to quit looking at all of that stuff and start looking at the Bible. The Bible never promises us any of those things. If God gives it to us praise the Lord. But those aren\u2019t promises. What is promised in the Scripture is \u201call who to seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,\u201d 2 Timothy 3:12 I go into these Christian bookstores and I see these books of promises and they\u2019re always the happy promises. Go will give you peace, God will provide your needs. Thank God for all of those promises, I\u2019m not trying to diminish them at all, but what about this promise? \u201cAll who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d How come that one\u2019s never highlighted?\r\n\r\nYou know, the more serious you get with Christ the more you\u2019re going to find yourself in opposition from the world. God forbid, sometimes within your own church. And if that weren\u2019t worse enough you\u2019re going to find yourself in opposition with people you never thought you\u2019d be in opposition with, sometimes within your own family. And in the midst of these types of things we turn to the Lord and say Lord, what am I doing wrong? And God smiles and says it\u2019s not what you\u2019re doing wrong that\u2019s the issue, it\u2019s what you\u2019re doing right. And I\u2019m not talking today about incurring persecution because we\u2019re rude, crude, lewd and obnoxious. A lot of Christians are persecuted and quite frankly they deserve to be persecuted because of the way they conduct themselves in terms of their personal habits. What I\u2019m talking about is seeking to live a godly life where God has put you, seeking to bloom where planted in God. And somehow we have this idea in our mind that all of this is going to happen without any opposition whatsoever. Frankly, there\u2019s not a shred of New Testament evidence that backs up any such thing.\r\nSo Timothy, I know that you are tempted to quit but when you are tempted to quit I want you to think about Jesus and I want you to think about me, real world examples. And I love there at the end of verse 9, first the whole verse then I\u2019ll emphasize the end of verse 9, \u201cfor which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal;\u201d look at this, \u201cbut the Word of God is not imprisoned.\u201d Paul says you can put me in jail but you can\u2019t put the Word of God in jail. I can\u2019t help but think about what he would write to the Philippians; we call Philippians one of Paul\u2019s four prison letters, along with Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, written from Roman prison. Why do we call them the prison letters? Because he wrote them from prison.\r\n\r\nAnd he talks there about Philippians 1:12-18, about his incarceration and he talks about the fact that he was actually chained to a Praetorian guard. [12, \u201cNow I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, [13] so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, [14] and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. [15] Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; [16] the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; [17] the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. [18] What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.\u201d]\r\n\r\nNow what would you do if you were chained to a Praetorian guard in a Roman prison? Most of us would be thinking about ourselves, right? Do you know what Paul is thinking about? This is what was on Paul\u2019s mind. I\u2019m not chained to him, he\u2019s chained to me; he can\u2019t go anywhere. Talk about a captive audience, figuratively and literally! Paul says you can put me in prison but you can\u2019t chain the Word of God, I\u2019m preaching to this guy 24\/7 and guess what? He\u2019s come to faith and the whole Praetorian guard has come to faith. The Word of God is not in prison. And guess what? Because I\u2019m in prison, Philippians 1:14, other people are saying you know Paul is pretty bold about this Christianity, he got himself thrown in prison. Do you know what we\u2019re going to do? We\u2019re going to be bold. And Paul says his confinement was actually resulting in greater preaching.\r\n\r\nAnd then Paul says down in Philippians 1:15-18, I wish we had time to read all of these verses, but he says look, there\u2019s a lot of people that are happy I\u2019m in prison because they\u2019re trying to eclipse my popularity. They\u2019re moving their ministries in and they\u2019re trying to fill the void that I left. And Paul says on a normal day I would probably be discouraged about that but you know what? I rejoice, because the Word of God is being preached all the more. But Paul, they\u2019re doing it with wrong motives? Who cares, the gospel is still being preached. The gospel is objectively true, is it not, regardless of the motivation of the preacher. [Philippians 1:15-18, \u201cSome, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; [16] the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; [17] the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. [18] What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.\u201d]\r\n\r\nDid you know that the devil can preach the gospel and people would get saved, because the gospel itself is objectively true. Of course, Satan as the father of lies, twists the gospel. But Paul was not dealing with that situation, he was dealing with people preaching in his absence and he rejoiced. It brings to life what Paul says here, that the Word of God is not in prison. You can throw God\u2019s spokesman and spokespersons into prison but you can\u2019t stop the traveling of the Word of God.\r\n\r\nIsaiah 40:8, \u201cThe grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.\u201d Matthew 24:35, \u201cHeaven and earth will pass away,\u201d Christ says, \u201cbut My words will never pass away.\u201d Are you looking for a safe investment today? The world is scrambling around looking for safe investments. I know of one\u2014the Word of God. Why is that? Because \u201cThe grass withers, and the flower fades,\u201d and the Word of God stands forever. You invest into this book, learning it and obeying it, you\u2019ve just made an eternal investment. You cannot stop the traveling of God\u2019s Word.\r\n\r\nI am reminded of Jeremiah 36. Jeremiah 36:1 says this: \u201cIn the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, [2] \u2018Take a scroll and write on it all the words which I have spoken to you concerning Israel and concerning Judah, and concerning all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. [3] \u2018Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity which I plan to bring on them, in order that every man will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.\u2019\u201d Jeremiah, I\u2019m giving you a prophecy, God says, it\u2019s a prophecy of warning to Judah, that\u2019s about to go into discipline under the hand of God because of their violation of My covenant.\r\n\r\nYou drop down to Jeremiah 36:23 and it says this: \u201cWhen Jehudi\u201d that would be the person reading the scroll in the presence of the king, Jehoiakim, \u201chad read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe\u2019s knife and threw it into the fire \u2026, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire\u2026.\u201d So Jehoiakim is listening to this scroll being read and he\u2019s saying cut that part out of it, chop that part out of it, by the way, just take the whole thing and throw it into the fire. This is my winter home, I\u2019ve got a fire going, and take that whole scroll that you have read from and I want you to just throw the whole thing into the fire because that scroll predicts discipline coming upon Judah, the nation of Israel.\r\n\r\nAnd I love how Jeremiah 36 doesn\u2019t just end with the king cutting the whole thing up and throwing it into the fire. Jeremiah 36:28, God speaking, says, \u201c\u2018Take again another scroll and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned. [29] And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say\u2026\u201d down to verse 30, \u201che shall have no one to sit on the throne of David.\u201d Jehoiakim, wreck the scroll; he didn\u2019t just wreck it, he burned it. First he tried to edit pieces out of it that he didn\u2019t like; then he said just take the whole thing, don\u2019t just throw it into the trash, incinerate it.\r\n\r\nThe story doesn\u2019t end there. God says to Jeremiah I want you to write everything that was just burned on a new scroll. Oh, and I want you to add some things too. So the new scroll is actually longer. And I want you to add on there that because Jehoiakim has done this, he will have no heir that will sit on David\u2019s throne; he will be cut out of the Davidic lineage that we just mentioned a short time ago. So the new scroll came back just as good as the old scroll but better and longer. That is the Word of God; that is what is being said when it talks about, \u201cThe grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.\u201d [Isaiah 40:8] You cannot stop the traveling of the Word of God; the Word of God, Paul says, is not in prison.\r\n\r\nVoltaire, the noted French infidel who died in 1788 said that in one hundred years from his time Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history. But what has happened? Voltaire has passed into history while the circulation of the Bible continues to increase in almost all parts of the world, carrying blessing wherever it goes. Concerning the boast of Voltaire on the extinction of Christianity and the Bible in one hundred years Geisler and Nix, who I\u2019m quoting from here, point out that only fifty years after his death the Geneva Bible Society used his press and his house to produce a stack of Bibles. What an irony of history. [A General Introduction to the Bible, Geisler & Nix]\r\n\r\nI\u2019m reminded of the great persecution that Saul of Tarsus, the man who\u2019s writing this letter to us, 2 Timothy, before he was converted brought against the church of Jesus Christ. Acts 8:1 says, \u201cSaul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.\u201d that would be Stephen, \u201cAnd on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria\u2026.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow wait a minute, didn\u2019t Jesus say that would happen in Acts 1:8, \u201cyou\u2019ll be My witnesses in Jerusalem,\u201d and then in where? \u201cJudea and Samaria,\u201d and then where, \u201cto the ends of the earth.\u201d Jesus never told them it would be persecution that would get them out of their comfort zones and push the Scripture and gospel preachers, if you will, into surrounding regions and areas. But you see, Saul of Tarsus knew what he\u2019s speaking of here, that the Word of God is not in chains; the Word of God is not in prison, in fact, I tried to shut the whole thing down, I tried to stop it. And yet the more I tried to stop it the more the Word of God spread.\r\n\r\nTertullian put it this way, \u201cThe blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.\u201d The more you keep putting Christians to death the more these martyrdoms begin to transpire, the more these martyrdoms begin to take place, it is a very interesting thing that the church keeps on prospering and the church keeps on growing. You think of places like China, where we\u2019ve sent some missionaries, even from this church. You think of the communist clampdown of Christianity in communist China and yet it\u2019s one of the most vibrant places in the world today in terms of people receiving the gospel. You heard Shahram share a few Sundays ago, one of the greatest trouble spots in the world is Iran. Iran is that regime that is mad and diabolical and seeking to go nuclear, and yet even within Iran, as we speak, the ancient country of Persia, a great spiritual revival has broken out.\r\n\r\nWhat is Paul saying here in verse 9? You throw me in jail, that\u2019s fine, but you cannot stop the spreading of Christianity and the preaching of the Word of God.\r\n\r\nGoing down to verse 10 which is the last verse we\u2019ll cover this morning, Paul writes this. \u201cFor this reason,\u201d for what reason? \u201cthis reason\u201d would go back to the fact that you cannot put the Word of God in chains. There\u2019s a reason I\u2019m in this, Paul says; there\u2019s a reason I\u2019m doing what I\u2019m doing. I, Paul says, am on the winning side of history. Don\u2019t we all like to side with a winner. I would suggest if you want to side with a winner side with the Bible; side with God, side with the church.\r\n\r\nPaul says, \u201cFor this reason,\u201d going down into verse 10, \u201cFor this reason I,\u201d Paul, \u201cendure all things,\u201d now what does it mean to \u201cendure\u201d? It means to put up with things, put up with grief, put up with flack, put up with being misunderstood, put up with having your words taken out of context, all the things that you go through when you try to live for God in a fallen world. Paul says I just put up with that, I endure it, I don\u2019t just bail at the first sign of difficulty. Why? Because I am on, Paul says, the winning side of history, because he said at the end of verse 9 you cannot put the Word of God in prison.\r\n\r\n[10] \u201cFor this reason I endure all things,\u201d watch this, \u201cfor the sake of those who are chosen,\u201d why is Paul enduring what he is enduring? Because his eyes are not on Paul, his eyes are on other people. He completely and totally understands that God is strategically using his life to bless others. And because God is strategically using my life to bless others I endure all things.\r\n\r\nWhat is the pathway to joy? Joy is spelled this way, J-O-Y. The J stands for Jesus, the O stands for others, and the Y stands for yourself. If you put that order in its proper orbit in your life, number 1, Jesus; number 2 others; number 3, yourself, your life will take on a totally different trajectory. Your purpose in living will change. You will find yourself enduring things and putting up with things that you didn\u2019t have the capacity to endure or put up with before your priorities were properly aligned. And you will, I believe, experience joy which is a deep down level of satisfaction that you\u2019re in God\u2019s will and doing God\u2019s work. Not every Christian can experience that. Not every Christian walks through life experiencing internal satisfaction or joy. The answer is they haven\u2019t spelled joy right. It\u2019s J-O-Y, Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last.\r\n\r\nDid not the Lord say, Acts 20:35, \u201cIt is more blessed to give than to\u201d what? \u201creceive.\u201d Proverbs 11:24-25 puts it this way: \u201cThere is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. [25] The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.\u201d\r\n\r\nDo you know the pathway to blessing? Do you know what it is? It\u2019s being \u201cothers\u201d focused; it\u2019s being focused on not your own holy trinity, which in many cases consists of me, myself and I, it is being focused on others, understanding that when you are watering others you are watering yourself; it is better to give than to receive. Luke 6:38 says, \u201cGive, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure\u2014pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.\u201d This is not talking about financial prosperity, although I\u2019m not against financial prosperity. I believe largely what it\u2019s talking about is understanding that your life has meaning and significance and purpose because your priorities are in the right orbit.\r\n\r\nVerse 10, I do these things for the sake of the elect, watch this, \u201cso that they also may obtain the salvation,\u201d what is the most important thing a human being can have? \u201cthe salvation,\u201d salvation from what? Salvation from hell, salvation from an eternal separation from God, salvation from the wrath of God. Salvation simply means to be saved. Notice very carefully what he says, \u201cso that you may obtain the salvation,\u201d verse 10, \u201cwhich is\u201d where? Where do we find it? \u201cwhich is in Christ Jesus.\u201d Emergent church leaders, I do not believe that making disciples must equal adherence to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many, but not all circumstances, to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist\/Hindu or Jewish context.\r\n\r\nWhat does Paul say here in verse 10? Salvation in who? \u201cin Christ Jesus,\u201d the Bible says \u201ccome out from among them and be separate.\u201d [2 Corinthians 6:17, \u201c\u2018Therefore, Come out from their midst and be separate\u2019 says the Lord.\u2019\u201d] If you witness to a Muslim, if you witness to a Buddhist, a follower of Buddha, you don\u2019t encourage them to go back; you encourage them to come out because salvation is in Christ Jesus.\r\n\r\nEmergent church leaders, \u201cEvangelism or missions for me is no longer persuading people to believe what I believe.\u201d I don\u2019t do that in evangelism, I persuade people to believe the way I believe because I believe the way I believe is the way God believes, because it\u2019s revealed in God\u2019s Word. Not so in the emergent church. \u201cEvangelism or missions for me is no longer persuading people to believe what I believe, no matter how edgy or creative I get. It\u2019s more about shared experiences and encounters; it\u2019s walking the journey of life and faith together, each distinct to his or her own tradition and culture but with the possibility of encountering God and truth from one another.\u201d\r\n\r\nWhen I\u2019m witnessing to a Buddhist, when I am witnessing to a Muslim, when I am witnessing to an atheist I do not go into it seeking to find common ground with them. I certainly don\u2019t go into it looking for some kind of shared experience that we can walk down the road together. I come into it with the belief that their system is wrong and God\u2019s system is right. And those verses that I have there at the top of the screen, if you want to know God\u2019s opinion on alternative religious systems not found in the Scripture you\u2019ll see that God\u2019s critique is very harsh, under all of those verses where I\u2019ve mentioned alternative religions. What the Bible teaches is Jesus as the narrow way. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5 and many other passages.\r\n\r\n[John 14:6, \u201cJesus said to him, \u2018I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.\u201d Acts 4:12, \u201cAnd there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. 1 Timothy 2:5, \u201cFor there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd then finally verse 10, at the end, \u201c\u2026which is in Jesus Christ and with it eternal glory.\u201d Paul was not one of these kinds of guys that evangelized people, checked it off his list and moved on to the next people group. What you\u2019ll discover in Paul is salvation is a very broad concept. In fact, if you join us on Wednesday nights when I\u2019m teaching Wednesday night study here at the church we\u2019re going to be talking about the doctrine of salvation, beginning in January. Paul was not just about justification, he was about sanctification, and then you\u2019ll notice here at the end of verse 10, \u201ceternal glory,\u201d which is the third tense of our salvation.\r\n\r\nThis is why Paul could write this to the Galatians, \u201cMy children,\u201d so they\u2019re believers, right, \u201cwith whom I am again in labor,\u201d now why would he be in labor with them again if they were God\u2019s children, and Paul\u2019s spiritual children? \u201cMy children, with whom I am in labor again until Christ is formed in you,\u201d Paul is saying I\u2019m not just interested in getting you folks to heaven, I\u2019m interested in birthing you, if you will, into the middle tense of your salvation which is your progressive sanctification. This opens our minds to what Paul was all about.\r\n\r\nDid you know Paul on his missionary journeys always retraced his steps? The green arrow is the journey out, the red arrow is the journey back; that\u2019s missionary journey number 1, Paul is retracing his steps. Paul goes through on missionary journey 2 the exact same area he went through on missionary journey 1. Paul, on missionary journey 3 goes through the exact same areas he went through on missionary journey 2. Why does Paul keep retracing his steps? Because to Paul the issue of salvation is not just getting people saved so they can go to heaven; it\u2019s helping them to grow in Christ, because when Paul thought about salvation he thought about salvation in three time zones, or three tenses.\r\n\r\nYou know, when Sarah was brought home from the hospital when she was just born, we did not flop her in the middle of the kitchen and say help yourself to a ham sandwich when you get hungry. Stage 1, the birthing stage was accomplished, now there\u2019s a totally different stage. Now this infant has to be brought to maturity, has to grow, in fact she couldn\u2019t even eat yet; she could eat but she simply couldn\u2019t eat meat yet, it\u2019s hard to eat meat when you don\u2019t have any teeth.\r\n\r\nSo through the maturity process, through the growing process a child that\u2019s newborn starts to mature and to grow into a being a young person, ultimately a young lady, ultimately a young adult and any parent worth their salt is invested not just in step 1 but in step 2. And this is why Paul, when he talks about salvation does not just talk about justification, he also talks about progressive sanctification, and then he talks about future glorification.\r\n\r\nYou know, in the medical world being an obstetrician and a pediatrician are two different disciplines, aren\u2019t they? In fact, in all my different encounters with doctors I have never met a doctor that\u2019s both because those are two different skills. One helps the birthing process, the other, the pediatrician helps the child to grow. That\u2019s why Paul keeps retracing his steps; he is not satisfied with these people now that their names are written in the book of life; he wants to help them grow, phase 2, progressive sanctification.\r\n\r\nAnd this largely is what Sugar Land Bible Church is all about. Yes, we want to see people get saved but that\u2019s not the end result in God; we want to see people develop, we want to see people grow. And where would we be today without Paul laying the foundation? And where would Paul have been without Jesus Christ before Him through His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection, laying the foundation that Paul built on?\r\n\r\nSee, we can look back at the lives of Jesus and we can look back at the lives of Paul, we can look at what they endured for our benefit and we can say thank You Lord. Can I ask you a question? When the next generation comes along are they going to be able to look back at our lives? Are they going to be able to look back at your life and see what God did through you to bless them? Are they going to be thankful for you? That\u2019s a pretty hard-hitting question, isn\u2019t it? Will future generations arise and call us blessed the same way we arise and call Paul blessed and Jesus blessed? It largely is contingent on whether we are going to respond to these teachings of endurance as outlined in the book of 2 Timothy.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s possible you could be here today and never have gone through step 1, never experienced justification, you\u2019ve never been spiritually born. The way to be spiritually born is only one way, it\u2019s to respond to the gospel. The gospel simply means good news, we call it good news because Jesus did it all on our behalf. He died on a cross, as we said earlier, He said \u201cIt is finished,\u201d He rose bodily from the dead in order to authenticate who He said he was. He is ascended to the right hand of the Father and He leaves humanity and the church with a simple message that if you will simply trust in what I have done for you, not what you do for yourself, not what your parents did, not what your grandparents did, but you trust in what I have done, and in a nanosecond you are a brand new spiritual born baby. You have passed through justification and now it\u2019s just a matter of spiritually growing and maturing.\r\n\r\nHow tragic it would be to come and listen to a sermon like this because of religious duty or obligation but have never experienced spiritual birth, thinking that if you go to church you\u2019re all right with God, and that is not so. To become right with God you have to become His child. The only way to become His child is through the spiritual birth and you\u2019re spiritually born, on the authority of the Word of God, trusting exclusively in what Jesus has done. Another way of saying trust is faith or reliance or confidence, you\u2019re trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone for the safekeeping of your soul, trusting that He has both the integrity and authority to do what He has promised to do, which is safeguard your soul and to one day usher you into the presence of His Father.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s something you can do right now as I\u2019m speaking, as the Spirit of God places you under conviction. It\u2019s not something you have to join a church to do, raise a hand to do, walk an aisle to do, no human work is involved whatsoever. It\u2019s a matter of personal privacy between you and the Lord where you respond to His message. If it\u2019s something that you have done or are doing then on the authority of the Word of God you have changed your eternal destiny and now you are a newborn spiritual creature in Christ Jesus that needs to grow up into all godliness, but your hope of eternity is secure. If it\u2019s something that you need more information of I\u2019m available after the service to talk. Shall we pray.\r\n\r\nFather, on this time of Thanksgiving we look back and we\u2019re grateful for the lessons from Paul\u2019s life and Christ\u2019s life about present endurance. Help us to walk out these things so present generations can arise and look back on our lives and be thankful that we live at this time in history. 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