2 Timothy 1:11-12 - Pressing Forward for Christ

Well, it is a joy and a privilege.

Every time we come here, this feels like home, and you people are so loving.

Yesterday we started off with the missions banquet.

And those of you that weren't here, you really missed it.

I mean, it was uh not only reports from all over the world, but even food from every tribe and tongue and nation and chicken foot.

Uh, so we enjoyed ourselves, and uh, you you need to come next time.

But it's also a special joy for me to be here today on our anniversary, and I got the better end of the deal for sure.

I was telling Doug, uh, Nicole deserves an award for putting up with me uh for 23 years.

So her reward in heaven is great.

But uh, I'm just rejoicing and thankful for her and thankful for the partnership that we have that has enabled us to just be that gospel team.

Uh we need to be teams as we serve Christ in the gospel, and the best team is the husband and wife, isn't it?

And so we just praise God for that.

Well, it's my honor today to bring you God's word, and I'm going to be reflecting on a passage from 2 Timothy, which has been precious on my hearts.

And you can start turning there in your copy of God's word as we look at a couple of verses from 2 Timothy 1, verses 11 and 12.

2 Timothy 1:11

As I reflect on this book, that as it's percolated in my heart and encouraged my heart, I just love the reality of what Paul is living and even teaching his protege, Timothy, in this epistle.

Just a reminder that gospel work and missions, as we talk about it, sometimes we look at the dramatic side, the romantic side of all the work that's done, but that's really not the essence of gospel ministry.

Gospel ministry will fall to the ground, your Christian life will fall to the ground if you only focus on doing and going.

And you forget that the roots of who you are is not what people see, but is what only God sees.

And it's not the doing, but the depending on Christ that is really the strength of any missionary.

And I would even apply it to your lives here today as I seek to encourage you in your work for Christ here, as he's called you to live for him here, is how are you rooting yourself in Christ and depending on Christ?

I think, especially in our generation, and I don't need to spend a lot of time on this, but we're living in a day and age where to be a Christian is to be at war.

And I think that's been said already.

There's more of the Psalm II effect of just the nations grinding their teeth against the Son of Man.

And we, as we identify with him, they have animosity towards us too.

It's weird to be a Christian today more than any other generation.

I don't know if you know this, but throughout church history, anyone that's been faithful for Christ has suffered much for Christ.

And Christians have been beaten and jailed for confessing Jesus, and they've done so not with a sense of loss, but a sense of joy and hope.

Some of the greatest movements of God happened under the greatest seasons of persecution.

You can think about in the 1500s, the Huguenots, in one day, in 1572, Bartholomew's Day massacre, under a Catholic persecution, 70,000, these are in some ways the children of Calvin spiritually.

70,000 of them, because they love Jesus Christ, were killed in one day.

Can you imagine if that happened here, what God would do in our lives?

And the church grew even more because the gates of hell can't stand against it.

We look at the past though, and we think, wow, that that was crazy back then.

Do you know that in our generation, in the 20th and 21st century, has been a foment of the greatest amount of persecution, more than all 19 centuries combined?

And it's happening for sure in places like North Korea and the Middle East, but I believe it's going to start happening right here.

And some of you are seeing it already.

And I think it's because of that that before we run out into God's service, we need to ask ourselves: where do I get the strength to stand against all of this?

Where do I get to have the courage and the boldness to stand against this?

And I don't want you to give this romantic idea that you have it in yourself because that's the furthest thing from the truth.

I know that's true in my own life.

I don't have the strength to face the challenge of being someone who stands at the front lines of the war of the gospel for the fame of Jesus Christ.

It's because of that that books like 2 Timothy are so important for us.

Because it's Paul as a father speaking to his young son who is actually shirking back and getting frightened, like you and me do at times when we face opposition.

And he's giving this epistle to him as the key truths that will help a frail, young, timid man to stand again.

I don't know if you're in church this morning and saying, I don't have the strength to even sit here and pay attention to the sermon.

That's a good place to be in some ways, because when you're weak, you'll depend more on Christ.

When you get beaten down, you begin to see how insufficient you really are.

And that's what 2 Timothy is written for.

It's for people like you and me.

In the real moments of our life when we're really honest about what we can't do.

Then Jesus does great things through us.

Just think for a moment about who the author is, the Apostle Paul.

This is, as he writes this epistle, this is his last will and testament in 67 AD before he was beheaded on the Ostian way.

The only way you could get Paul to stop serving Christ is to disconnect his head from the rest of his body.

And that happens probably three weeks after writing this letter, most commentators would say.

Can you imagine?

And he he had a sense of that as he's writing.

And yet he's writing with great strength.

I want to tap into some of that, don't you?

That spiritual strength.

Paul will never again at this point preach to crowds, evangelize at Athens, travel on missionary journeys, which he's done so much of, or see churches planted for Jesus Christ.

His world has shrunk down to a dungeon known as the Marmotine prison in Rome.

There's a single hole in the ceiling to let light in and air because it was really a sewer.

If you've been to Rome, you can see this even today.

And he has this request, very interesting request at the end of 2 Timothy 4, where he says, Would you bring the cloak, Timothy, which I left at Troas with Carpus and the books, especially the parchments?

You know why?

Because he was out on the streets of Rome in this sewer dungeon.

And during the winter, which is most likely when he was writing, Rome is 55 degrees Fahrenheit in the day and below 37 during the night.

I'm not built for that kind of weather.

I have 5% body fat or something like that.

And I can't imagine how Paul is making it there.

That's why his key request is, would you bring me some warm clothes?

Prisoners awaiting execution were put in this kind of a dungeon.

That was the final place, but that you went before you were executed.

Lowered 12 feet into this dark, filthy hole that measured only 30 by 22 feet.

I don't know how big your bathroom is.

That's probably the size of this place.

The height of the ceiling was six feet, six inches.

The prison was under the city sewers, and historians tell us that sometimes, sometimes 30 or so men were in there, incarcerated, and they would just die because of the conditions there.

And they would open the sluice gates and allow the sewage to come in and take these dead bodies out of there.

This is what Paul would see day in and day out.

Here's a man that's been faithful for Christ, and this is where he ended up.

When Paul was put into it, it was already a 700-year-old structure.

It wasn't newly built, it was decaying and filled with the stench of death.

Most prisoners just starve to death there.

That didn't happen to Paul.

But he talks about the hardship.

It's he doesn't he doesn't make this romantic in 2 Timothy 2 9.

He says, I am suffering hardship, Timothy, even to imprisonment as not just an ordinary jail cell, but as the worst of criminals.

But the word of God is not imprisoned.

That's the light of hope that I have, even in this place.

His charges, why was he there?

Preaching Christ.

Standing for Christ.

That's what I was talking about.

The more you stand for Christ in this generation, you're gonna see maybe not severe things like this, but things leading up to severe things like this.

At the end of his ministry, because of the hatred of emperors like Nero, Paul is experiencing the brunt of this hatred towards his savior in his own life.

And what is he doing?

Even as he's mostly abandoned, he says in 2 Timothy 1:15 that you know what's happened, Timothy?

2 Timothy 1:15

Despite my faithfulness to the Lord and me being here in jail because of Jesus and gospel work, people aren't really supporting me or praying for me anymore.

In fact, everyone's afraid, and most of my friends have abandoned me.

I think that's almost worse than the physical suffering, is the suffering of abandonment from Christians that you think should be loyal to you.

Only Luke is with me.

Praise the Lord for Dr.

Luke, right?

He's probably just 24-7, just bandaging the poor man and helping him with his wounds.

But 2 Timothy is not about this.

It's not about Paul moaning and groaning about his suffering like I do most of the time, and saying, you know, can you please send me a care package?

Please send me some cookies or something like that.

I miss uh In and Out Burger, or whatever.

You don't have that here, but whatever you feel is your comfort, you know.

He's not talking about his comfort or his needs.

In fact, one of the things that is so counterintuitive, because this is a man who is not just doing, but he's dependent, is that he isn't talking about himself, he's thinking about his son.

He's like, I know my destiny, it's sure, I know whom I've believed, I know where I'm going.

My concern is for you, Timothy, because you're not sure.

And you're not standing strong.

These are my last few days.

I want you to live many more days in faithfulness for Jesus Christ.

You're giving up.

And so he writes as a father, even these last moments, thinking more about his kids, spiritual kids, especially one spiritual kid, which is Timothy.

Why?

Because he wanted to strengthen him with Christ.

And Timothy was weak, like you and I are weak.

We know maybe three of his weaknesses that you could identify with.

I think the first one is more of a practical one.

He's he's young, it's a circumstantial issue.

He can't do anything about it.

He's young in those days.

It took a long time for the older generation to really respect young men.

And you had to go through almost getting to about 60 when your life is, you know, half over before people start respecting you.

And Timothy was 33 years old, and so he he was beginning to shirk back from that challenge.

If you remember 1 Timothy 4.12, Paul reminds him, let no one look down on your youthfulness.

But then you get into some deeper weaknesses.

Not only was this practical, circumstantial weakness of his youth, but he was also internally in his heart, he was timid, he was fearful.

2 Timothy 1.7, Paul is again kind of giving him a boost from the back and saying, God has not given us Timothy, especially in this generation when there's so much hate for Jesus, he has not given us a spirit of cowardice, of timidity.

God wants men and women that have steel in their spines that comes from Jesus.

Don't be timid of power, of love, of discipline.

I think there's a third problem that he has, and it's more physical, and something that was inherent to Timothy.

Maybe some of you identify with this.

Not only was he young, not only was he fearful, but he was also sickly, just constantly falling sick.

You know, we were joking about during COVID about how frightened people get about one virus, and especially living in my nation, we have viruses everywhere all the time.

There's millions of them floating around.

And we were just thinking, you know, we we live in a day and age where there's so much fear about sickness.

But that's that's one of the things that Timothy was struggling with, and he would fall sick a lot.

1 Timothy 5 23, no drunk no longer drink water exclusively.

He had a lot of digestive issues, but use a little wine, and in those days that was medicine to help you to get over gastric problems for the sake of your stomach.

And as you as you look at this man, he's the kind of man that I would have given up on.

But because Paul knows that God loves to use weak men, he writes 2 Timothy.

Do you feel weak this morning?

2 Timothy is for you.

If you don't feel weak this morning, you're not really being honest.

Praise the Lord.

Church history tells us that this weak, frail, young man became a faithful pastor.

I think a large part of that was this epistle.

And he was martyred in Ephesus after many years of faithful ministry at the age of 80.

The way he was martyred was he was dragged through the streets and stoned to death by angry followers of the pagan goddess Diana.

But he stood firm to the end.

And so Paul gives Timothy instructions.

In 1 Timothy, it was more for the church.

In 2 Timothy, it's more for him, and more for us to equip him for the work of ministry.

And I think that's even so essential for us, right?

That we would link ourselves to the head, Jesus Christ, so that we would become equipped for ministry in challenging days.

And he reminds us of these things.

I think in the thematic verse of this epistle, this is all introduction, by the way.

Don't worry, we'll get to our text.

In 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 13, he says, retain the standard of sound words which you heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus, verse 14.

1 Timothy 1:13

Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

The strength is not ours, the strength is Christ through his word.

And that's what we need to fight for.

When we fight for ourselves, we lose.

When we fight for Christ in Scripture, he wins through us.

That's the theme of 2 Timothy.

Guard the truth of Christ in your generation.

And I think it's with that in mind that Paul starts, I love the way Paul disciples Timothy.

He doesn't start by saying, You gotta change, you gotta buck up, man, pull up your socks.

But he starts in 1 Timothy with just sharing his testimony.

Look at me and follow me as I follow Christ.

I've been through those challenges, Timothy.

I've been burned.

But Christ is faithful.

Look at me and walk behind me as I root myself in the vine.

And I think it's with that in mind that we find in many ways the key aspect of Paul just sharing his life with Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verses 11 through 12.

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

And that's going to be our meditation for this afternoon, this morning.

It reads like this: follow along in your copy of God's word, 2 Timothy 1.11, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

For this reason, Timothy.

I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard that which I have entrusted to him until that day.

Even reading those words is a boost to the soul, isn't it?

The strength is not in Paul, the strength is in him who he has believed.

The roots of the gospel are not what people see, but they're deep in the soil of Christ and Christ's sufficiency.

That's what Paul is reminding this dear young brother, and what he's reminding you as brothers and sisters this morning, that you will walk out of this room and you will fall on your face if you think you have strength in yourself.

But when you realize that all strength is in the vine, you will be rooted in a bedrock that no storm will be able to bring down.

And you will face storms, but you will face them with strength and joy that comes from him alone who is able to keep you.

And I want to think about two roots of gospel strength this morning as we're thinking about missions.

It's not about our strength, brothers and sisters.

I'm gonna say that until you're tired of me saying that.

It's about Christ.

The weakest men, this is so counter to the world, are the strongest in the church.

The weakest men and women.

I've seen this again and again and again.

And so there's two roots of gospel strength that we find in this passage.

The first, of course, in verse 11, and the second in verse 12.

So let's look at the first one in verse 11.

Key word here is for which I was appointed.

You know why you're a Christian?

Because you were appointed, not because you chose Jesus.

If you think that, you've already failed.

Because you can unchoose him.

But because he chose you, you are secure.

But I think Paul is going a little bit deeper than just the general idea of the doctrine of election.

He's talking about the doctrine of ministry, and he's saying there is no ministry that you do in the church of Jesus Christ that is your own.

In fact, the most dangerous people in the church are people that do ministry to which they appoint themselves to.

They need to be kicked far out of any form of service because they're they are going to kill the church.

The only ministry in the church that is valid and useful is ministry that is appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of God, right?

Who gives us gifts in the first place.

We don't do what we want to do, we do what he's appointed us to do.

And Paul is saying, you know, it puts in perspective the suffering, the challenge, and all of that.

This isn't my mission, this isn't my work, this is his work from beginning to end.

So let me make it just really simple.

What's the first root of gospel strength?

It is a submission to God's purposes in your life.

A submission to God's purposes in your life.

It's so difficult to submit, isn't it?

But I love, I think what Doug was saying earlier as he was reflecting on Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 and 29.

Matthew 11:28

My yoke is easy.

You know that word easy there is actually caris.

My yoke is gracious.

My yoke is kind.

There is a sense in which sometimes we've seen all kinds of wrong ideas of submission in the world and we react against that word and think it's bad.

But actually, those who are believers, we say the greatest place of rest for me is submission.

Because I know my master.

I know what he's like.

I love submitting to him.

And that's the first way in which I have strength to serve him, is by submitting to him, by dying to myself and saying, his will be done in my life.

And there's two elements in Christ and in his cross that enables Paul to submit.

We need to make this really fleshed out because how do we submit even as we face lives that are difficult, even as we face lives that are hard?

I've been counseling a couple I was sharing yesterday that just lost their eight year old girl.

I don't know how you can go through that.

But I remember the wife who's a believer, the husband is not a believer, but I think he's close.

But the wife saying, you know, Sammy, for me, it's like the book of Job.

I don't know why God is doing this, but I know who He is.

And I know that what's going to happen through this is much good.

She said, already God is enabling me as a suffering mother to witness to my sister and my brother who don't know Christ.

I said, Angie, that's just part of the story.

But submitting to him always produces these amazing fruits in the fires of the valley of the shadow of death.

And that's why Paul, I think, as he is in the Valley of Shadow of Death, he says the greatest thing that helps me to go through this is to just say, Jesus, this is not the Romans, this is not Nero that has placed me in this place.

It is you.

And I will submit to you.

Whether I'm suffering in a dungeon, whether I have cancer, whatever it is, I will realize that there are not two gods in this universe, Satan and Jehovah.

There is only one God.

And his name is Jesus Christ.

And even Satan can't move a finger without his permission.

See, it's those kinds of things that can move you through life as you serve him.

I think the first way in which we submit to Christ is if you look at the first few words, he says, for which I was appointed.

Paul is saying there's an element that enables me to submit that's found in the previous context.

And what is that?

It's God has called us, verse 9, with a holy calling, not according to our works.

Praise the Lord for that.

But according to only one whose work is important, right?

Christ Jesus, verse 10, who has been manifested in his appearing to do what?

In his work?

To abolish death.

That word for abolishing death is literally to crush death, to cancel death.

This is a description of the cross, isn't it?

Of Calvary.

And Paul says, I can stare straight in the face of death and realize death is nothing because of Calvary.

That enables me to submit.

They can chop my head off, and immediately I'm in the presence of Jesus Christ.

That's the way I think.

I don't think this way, but that's the way Paul thinks.

That's the way I need to think.

He says, We are we are driven to submit by the cross's power in our trials.

We are driven by the cross's power.

You know, I love when Jesus, even a few days before his crucifixion, he's at Lazarus' tomb.

You remember in John chapter 11?

John 11 · chapter mention

And most of us get caught up with Jesus weeping in sympathy, and I think that's significant.

But there's another emotion that Jesus expresses that's really significant and even more than his weeping in John 11, 33.

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, the sisters and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.

And that word for deeply moved in spirit, in the Greek, embrimamu, oh my, I can't even say it, Maomi, is a word that is used for lions when they growl under their breath.

Or maybe you have a big dog, you know, that sees an enemy and they start snarling.

And literally what Jesus was doing in that passage is he was going to war with death.

He hates the way in which death and the curse has affected his people.

And that's why he went to the cross.

You're trying to think of some of the motivations that caused Jesus to go to the cross.

It is this very desire to take away the power and the influence and the sting of death in our lives so that death just becomes sleep for us now.

Just a temporary transition into eternal life forever and ever.

Do you believe in this power?

Because if you don't, you won't be able to face anything.

But with this, you can face everything.

I love the Puritans, you know, John Owen, especially.

In fact, you should read this book that he wrote about the power of Christ's death.

They didn't know how to sell books.

They wrote these long titles that are almost like sermons in themselves: The Death of Death and the Death of Christ.

But what a great book that is, 1647.

You should find it.

I know John Owen is difficult to read, but you should find it because it will be the pillow that you need to lay your head on when you're facing death even in your life.

This is the strength that drives Christians in ministry, is the ability to say to that, I laugh at you because you have no power over me because of my savior.

Spurgeon, many years ago, when he was preaching in his early days, was just focusing on his local church, and there was a young man named Medhurst who was just so driven by saying, Spurgeon, I want to grow to be a preacher like you.

Would you train me in ministry?

And Spurgeon kept saying no to him and saying, I don't have the time for this.

Until one day Ian Murray talks about this.

I think Medhurst, after pestering him, every time Spurgeon walked to his home, he just kind of fell on his knees and held on to Spurgeon.

And he said, Spurgeon, I must preach, sir.

I must preach Christ.

I can't do anything in life.

If you don't allow me to preach, I will want my head cut off because it's not worth living.

When you come to that sense of fearlessness of ministry, then you're ready.

You're ready to serve Jesus.

But that's not the only thing that helps Paul to submit, not a sense of God's power that drives him.

But I think a second thing that helps him to submit is this idea of I was appointed for what?

To be a preacher, to be an apostle, and to be a teacher.

And I know we can't do all of these things because we're not apostles, but I think the spirit of this, as you look at all three of these words, is what?

That we are appointed not just to, you know, make money and retire somewhere on the beach and some beachfront property and do temporary things that don't matter, but we are appointed as Christians to do one thing and one thing only until Jesus comes to proclaim him, to proclaim the cross.

And I think that's another thing that makes your life exciting.

Isn't it so boring to think about just accomplishing, you know, something on this earth?

And then you say, then what?

But to be a part of something that is eternal, that you know that lasts forever, is something that gets you up in the morning, isn't it?

Even when you're sick and dying.

And so Paul says, not only am I driven by the cross's power, but I'm directed by the cross's proclamation.

I can't, you know, live long enough.

I can't live long enough to just proclaim Jesus every day.

Many years ago, it was a decade and a half ago, actually, we had a ministry team with us working on our field, and they went through this horrendous car accident after serving for about eight years with us in ministry.

And it was such a severe accident that every member of their family, the husband, had multiple uh brain damage, skull fracture, his femur was completely crushed, no airbags in our vehicles.

The wife was in a coma for a few days because she had brain swelling, and their their kids that were with them had hand fractures, jaw fractures as they were tossed around the car in this accident.

And we thought, this is the end of it.

And it's okay.

You know, they're going home, let them retire.

He recouped for six months.

God spared his life, came back to preach that Sunday.

I mean, there wasn't a dry eye in that place.

And he said, This doesn't stop us.

He preached on Psalm 131.

My soul is like a weaned child.

I don't know why God did this, but I know he's making me more like Christ so that I can keep preaching him more and more.

In fact, there was a greater strength in this brother's preaching after he had brain damage than before he had brain damage.

And we all were listening to him.

Even though parts of his brain were left on the streets of our country, he preached Christ with more power after that.

He he made another statement to us.

He said, Don't call it an accident, call it an appointment.

Because nothing happens by chance.

Everything happens to make us more fervent to serve Christ.

When we believe in the submission to God's sovereignty, it changes the way you think about the worst things that happen to you, right?

We are driven by the cross's power.

We are directed by the cross's proclamation.

I think Paul says some of this in 1 Corinthians 9 16 when he says, I'm under compulsion.

Woe is me if I don't preach the gospel.

Do you feel like that?

I think sometimes God has to beat us down to make us feel like that.

And so Paul says, I was appointed.

That word for appointed is this idea of fixing time and purpose for us.

Not one day in your life is something that happens by accident.

Everything that happens, what a great and glorious and loving Savior we have, is appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Especially those trials.

Don't be shouting at Satan or demons.

They have no power over your trials, brothers and sisters.

You have no hope if you think they have power over your trials.

Especially your trials, they come by appointment from a loving Savior that wants you to become more strong in perseverance and service for Him.

And Paul speaks of three offices that he was given through the gospel and through the cross.

And again, while we can't do these things exactly because we're not called to all these things, I think we can learn a sense of how we should proclaim the cross.

He says, I'm a preacher.

And that's the idea of our herald who's not speaking his own will, but who's speaking the will of the king, the decrees of a king.

And so there's a sense of authority that we need to have when we're preaching Christ.

The words that I have are not mine, they're from the king of heaven.

He says, I was appointed to be an apostle.

And again, this has been made into a big word of somebody who's a big shot, you know, I'm an apostle.

But literally, what it means is a sent one.

Somebody who's humble, who's a slave of Jesus Christ.

Now we can't be apostles, but we can have this attitude, right?

Not only as we preach Christ should we be authoritative, but we should also be humble.

That we recognize that nothing in us is worthy.

Everything that we do is from Him.

He says, Not only am I a preacher, not only am I an apostle, but I'm a teacher.

And this speaks about clarity.

One who is able to explain and instruct and disciple and say, I have the answers for life because it's not in me, but it's in this book that comes from the king.

There's clarity to life, and people will come to you and ask you for the reason for the hope that is in you, not because you're so smart, but because you're relying on an infinite wisdom that comes from an infinite God.

That's why it's so exciting to be Christians, isn't it, brothers and sisters?

Because the message is a message that is clear, that is powerful, and that is humbling.

And so the first way in which we can be strong for Jesus in the gospel is by what?

Submitting.

Submitting to God's purposes in our life.

But then look at verse 12.

Look at verse 12.

He gives us a second root of gospel strength.

He says, for this reason, and here's the reality here, as I do all of these things, I don't, you know, have a wonderful six-bedroom house with all this health and wealth and prosperity and all that nonsense that people preach about today.

I don't know how they can preach that stuff when Jesus had no place to lay his head.

And you look at Paul and he's just like Jesus.

He says, For this reason I suffer these things.

Not because of me, but because I'm depending on Christ and because I'm preaching the cross, I suffer these things.

The second root of gospel strength is a solace in God's unfailing power.

You look at the end of verse 12, what does he say?

But I am not ashamed.

Because I know that he's faithful, that he's powerful.

In fact, his power is more manifested when I am beaten down and weak.

In my lowest valley, God is so powerful and so faithful.

People that sing, Great is thy faithfulness, don't realize that it was written in the deepest and darkest trial of Israel.

You know, we think, Great is thy faithfulness because the clouds are out and it's the sun is shining and there's no problems and all my sickness is gone away.

Read Lamentation sometime.

I don't have time to preach that sermon.

But Great is thy faithfulness is more sung in the valley of the shadow of death than in the mountains of blessing.

Most of the times in the mountains of blessing, we don't even remember God.

And so Paul says, I am so filled with a comfort.

Aren't the best Christians to be around?

I know this sounds weird, but the best Christians to be around are suffering Christians.

Actually, even better than that, and this is again just my weird pastoral bent the best Christians to be around are dying Christians.

They're literally on the doorstep of heaven, and they can see Jesus more clearly than I can.

That's what Paul is doing right now.

He's saying, My heart is filled, Timothy, not with doubt, not with fear.

Maybe I used to have those before, but as I go through this trial, my heart is filled with certainty.

I know whom I believed.

And it's because of my suffering that I'm able to sing more powerfully the assurance in God's faithfulness that you can have to.

How does this solace in God's unfailing power work itself in our heart?

It's it comes about through two truths about God that need to strengthen us.

The first is this that God's plan is good.

God's plan is good.

When Paul says, I also suffer these things, he doesn't say, I suffer these things because it's out of control in my life, but he says, I suffer these things for what?

For this reason.

Where does this suffering come from?

It comes from the same person that gave me the commission to preach him.

Along with that commission to preach him, Philippians 1 29, it has been granted to you not only to believe in his name, but also, we don't like the second part of the verse, to suffer for his sake.

Psalm 34, 19.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him.

I left that conclusion.

Out of all of them.

That doesn't mean necessarily physically, but it means spiritually.

Every great man of God in scripture suffered much.

Job lost everything.

Even though he was the most affirmed, justified man walking with God in his generation.

Moses, as he led a nation, think about the trials that he went through that even caused him to get angry and fail.

But that that was part of being a minister of Jesus Christ in his generation.

Jeremiah was known as what?

The weeping prophet.

And I think before we move on, we need to ask ourselves: what in the world is God doing by making his people suffer more than those that aren't his people?

Why would God work like this?

It's a good question to ask, isn't it?

Because I think this is one of those axes that often tends to destroy and disintegrate our faith at times as we begin to think that God is not good because we're suffering.

And Paul is saying exactly the opposite.

He's saying, God is good, especially in my suffering.

What are some of the good things that God does in our life through suffering?

I was just doing a survey of Scripture as I was thinking about this.

And here's six things.

You could probably think of 50 things, but I just want to keep it short because we have to have lunch.

But here's six things that God does in our life through suffering, more than he does through blessing.

Scripture teaches abundantly on this.

I think one of the first things that God does through suffering is he restrains sin.

When Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 12, 7, the thorn in the flesh, you know the context of that?

Is he had had these visions where he had even been to the third heaven and seen Jesus.

And you know what he admits?

He says, I wasn't allowed to speak about those things.

I'm not going to give you all the details, like people today that write books about going to heaven and having tea with Jesus, you know, like it's just a normal thing.

Paul says, actually, it was a spiritual trap for me of pride.

I was tempted to become prideful, even as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

That was my sin.

And you know what Jesus did to take away that sin?

Well, he died for me, but he also sent me a sanctifying thorn in the flesh.

Because he loves me not just at Calvary, but even today, through suffering.

And if Paul struggles with pride, what do you think we struggle with, right?

And so God sends trials to restrain sin.

Praise the Lord for his love.

Second reason why he sends trials is, you know this well, right?

Our church has been memorizing James, but to grow us in perseverance.

It's like going to the gym, right?

And getting those, tearing those muscles and then getting stronger muscles that you can do great things physically.

Well, God wants you to do great things spiritually and through faith.

And the gym that we need to go to is not the gym of blessing, that doesn't produce anything, but the gym of suffering.

James chapter 1, verse 3, knowing that the testing of your faith produces what?

James 1:3

Endurance.

I think also God sends us trials because we think in our generation somehow that we've gotten to the millennium because there's a new iPad coming out, or there's, you know, all the technology, the buildings that we've built.

And we're so enamored with who we are as human beings and the things that we've accomplished that God wants to remind us that this is a fallen world that is going to be destroyed.

And it's actually not growing, it's groaning.

But you won't remember that until you groan a little bit.

And so we have verses like Romans 8.22, God sends a suffering to remind us that all creation is groaning.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pain of childbirth until now.

I think a fourth thing is that God sends a suffering to advance the gospel through us.

Philippians 1.12.

Even though people that were my coworkers are attacking me and despising me, Paul says in Philippians 1.12, I rejoice because I want you to know, brethren, that circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.

Who cares if I'm being slandered?

I'm not important, my fame's not important, my reputation's not important, only Christ is important.

And you begin to talk like that more, and then you become more useful for him.

I think one of the biggest enemies of ministry is ministers who think too much of themselves.

So God sends you suffering.

God sends us suffering, and another thing is to equip us to counsel others.

You know, some of you are saying, I want to become a biblical counselor.

Which university do I need to go to?

I'll tell you, it's the university of suffering.

You'll become way better than sitting under some guru out there that has all these paradigms by just suffering.

We've seen this in our church because I think in the last year we've had three just devastating funerals.

And you know what happened?

Two widows, they've become buddies with each other.

And the older spiritual widows counseling the other widow in ways that I couldn't counsel because she's been through it and she's seen the sufficiency of Christ in it.

And I don't want to interfere because she can do it better than I can do, because she's gone through that school of suffering.

2 Corinthians 1:3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and God of all comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:3

The Father is our parakletos, the Son is our parakletos, 1 John 2.

The Spirit is our parakletos that come alongside us, and only suffering people see them in that way.

Paracletos just means somebody who counsels, who comes alongside.

A sixth reason why we suffer is to show us who the elect really are.

You know, there's a lot of people in this room, probably who are listening to the sermon, saying, This guy's weird for talking about all this suffering.

I don't want to sign up for this.

It's probably because you're not saved.

And sometimes God needs to put suffering in your life to really show you how insufficient you are.

But at other times, he will put suffering upon this church to even show us who really belongs to him.

And you Have church growth by subtraction.

It's the best kind of church growth sometimes.

Not all the time.

But God needs to do it, not us.

1 Thessalonians 1, 4 and 5.

When we are persecuted, this is plain indication of God's righteous judgment.

But Paul knows the reason why he's suffering.

He says, for this reason.

And what is the reason why he's suffering?

He's suffering because of the work of preaching Christ, of making Christ important.

You know why that causes suffering?

Because people hate listening to a gospel that says, you can't do anything to get to heaven.

That crushes them.

And the only person that can get you to heaven, and the only work that can get to heaven, is the work of the Son of Man who lived a righteous life for you for 33 and a half years, and who died the death that you deserve, so that hell would be taken up and he would cry, it is finished, so that you can face no condemnation.

That's the only way that you can be saved.

People will not love you for that.

Let me guarantee they will hate you for that.

And Paul said, That's why I'm suffering.

You know, you need to be so strong on preaching grace to fight human pride that it should cause you to suffer.

That's that's that's our mission.

I had a wife in our church family that lived for 10 years with a husband that was an unbeliever who literally despised her and was mean to her in in abundant ways that go beyond counting.

And she continued to be patient, 1 Peter 3, and love him and serve him.

After 10 years, he he broke down and he said, I don't know what causes you to love me like this.

She says, It's not me, it's Jesus.

He loved me in the same way.

And he bowed his knee to Christ and he became a student at our seventh grade, and he's pastoring now, but it's because of her preaching God's grace through her life.

That's how powerful grace is to conquer sinners.

Well, Paul says, Not only do I have a solace in God's power because his plan is good, his plan is good, especially in suffering.

Isn't his plan good?

Romans 8 28.

God works all things, not God works good things.

We mistranslate that verse, but God works all things for good.

If you think about that, that's especially speaking about trials and suffering.

Well, Paul ends with this.

He says, Not only do I have a solace, a pillow to lay my head in God's power through his plan, but I also have a pillow to lay my head in God's faithfulness that governs my life and our lives.

He says, I am not ashamed.

The word for ashamed, Paul used in Romans 1.16 and other places is literally this word of lacking courage, being fearful.

And I and I love this because Paul is actually saying there's a tendency for me to be ashamed because of the pressure of the filthy dungeon, because of the ideas of being a criminal, because of the opposition that I'm facing from Rome.

But he says, I'm not ashamed, and that lack of shame is not found in myself, but it's found in the sweetness of Christ's faithfulness.

Look at the rest of the verse.

For I know whom I have believed.

Stop there for a second.

Christ's faithfulness that governs our life, first of all, is a personal faithfulness.

Notice Paul doesn't say, I know what I have believed.

I think that's our temptation at times, isn't it?

To say, let me go through a doctrinal study on suffering so that I may get comfort in my time of suffering.

But Paul says, actually, through that doctrine, you need to get to a higher goal of not just what you believe, but whom you believe.

And if you don't get to that point, you will never find comfort in doctrine.

If doctrine doesn't lead you to Christ, it is pointless doctrine.

It is actually doctrine that will lead you into discouragement.

And so Paul says, I don't want to just read and know about Jesus, but I actually want to go to him in times of need and find mercy from him.

I want to know the power of his blood cleansing me from sin.

I want to find his wisdom, even in the book of Proverbs, in times of perplexity, and know that he's the wonderful counselor, and not just say what, but whom?

Jesus is personally with me.

You know, sometimes we we get so counterintuitive against the charismatic movement when they talk about the presence of Christ, and I knew they do it in wrong ways.

But brothers and sisters, through the scriptures, we have the presence of Christ with us all the time.

Didn't He say that to us?

Lo, I am with you always.

We need to recover a biblical sense of Jesus' presence.

And I would say it's especially there for saints that are on their deathbed and suffering for Christ.

Not only is Jesus' faithfulness personal, but it's also powerful.

He says, I am persuaded in a subtle way.

I'm as I spend time with Jesus in suffering, I know that he's able.

That's the word dunatos or powerful.

The same power in the scriptures that is used to calm the storm, the same power that is used in the scriptures to speak of God raising him from the dead, the same power that went to the cross and crushed our sin.

That same word group is used for he's able to do the small thing of keeping you from trials that will crush you.

The strongest temptation, the lowest depression in this world and in the next will be overcome because he's able.

Not only is his faithfulness personal, powerful, but it is permanent.

He said, What I have entrusted, what I have deposited for safekeeping.

Now, just think about this.

Is Paul talking about the fact that his life will be saved?

Obviously not, because we know in 1 Timothy 4 he knows that he's finished his course and he's going to die soon.

So then what is he talking about when he says Jesus' faithfulness is permanent?

I think the context of verse 14 makes it clear that it's not Paul that is going to be saved and entrusted and kept, but it's the work of the gospel through Paul that's going to be saved and entrusted and kept.

We are going to die, brothers and sisters, most of us, or we're going to get raptured, but none of us are going to be remembered.

You know, heaven isn't about having plaques and awards for all the things that you've done for Jesus Christ.

If you get those things, you'll lay them at his feet because heaven is about only one thing, it's about the work that we did for Christ going beyond us.

That's what enables us to live, he says, until that day.

Because Christ is building his church and protecting his church, he will protect the work that we have.

Not us, but the work that we have.

Not our lives, but the ministry that we do for him.

And when you see that, you have joy.

You know, I was visiting with one of our students some years ago that had been kicked out of his village because he had become a believer in Jesus Christ.

So they packed up all their belongings, and the village government said, You don't, you don't stay here anymore because you're rejecting our gods and you're following this Jesus Christ.

And so they moved about a 50 kilometers distance.

They got to this dirt patch in the middle of nowhere and they formed a Christian village.

This was about 20 years ago.

They called it Prashantigiri or Peace Village.

You know what happened over the years?

Is about a dozen other Christian refugees that had lost everything for Jesus began to join them and become part of this village, so much so that they started getting more and more people being attracted to the gospel through their witness and their church, that they had to start a second village called Nirikshanagiri, which means hope village.

They just kept going through the fruit of the Spirit.

And they said, the more we give up for Jesus, the more joy we have.

We've lost everything, but we've gained everything.

Isn't that the story of Christianity?

As we die to ourselves, we get a richness in our souls that's so much better.

Francis Schaeffer said, the gospel of today is not the gospel of the Bible.

It's a gospel of false gospel of peace and affluence.

But the true gospel is a gospel that is rooted not in the things that this world can give us, but in something so much better in Christ.

May that be your strength.

May He be your vine.

And through Him may you bear fruit that is abundant, both here and in the nations, until He comes.

Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you so much for the assurance and the reality and the comfort and the joy we get from knowing that we are useless and we are weak, but only you are strong.

Help us to live in these truths.

We praise you for examples like Paul that show us that it can be done.

And it can be done well.

Help us, Lord, to finish well, not just start well, but finish well for you, especially in these days when we're coming close to the end, it seems, but where much needs to be done for Jesus.

Make us his servants, make us his slaves.

May we die, and may he shine through us.

We ask in Jesus' precious name.

Amen.