An Enduring Ministry - [2 Timothy 2:10]

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A recent survey and study revealed the following. Every month, every month, 1500 pastors, evangelical pastors, abandon the ministry.
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The average tenure, the study revealed, of an evangelical pastor is 4 years.
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Far cry from previous times when tenures for the pastor were measured in decades.
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When longevity wasn't the exception, but it was the norm. Men like John Calvin, who ministered in Geneva for 25 years until his death.
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Men like Jonathan Edwards, right here in our backyard in Northampton for 20 years. Men like the doctor,
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Martin Lloyd -Jones, 30 years in London. And even more recently, recent times,
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W .A. Criswell pastored First Baptist Church in Dallas for nearly 50 years.
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It was down the street from where I attended seminary. Or even Adrian Rogers in Memphis for 32 years.
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I hear there's a pastor in West Ballston will be doing 20 years next year. When John MacArthur was young and entering the ministry, his father,
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Jack MacArthur, gave him this advice, quote, I want you to remember a couple of things before you go into the ministry.
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First, the great preachers, the lasting preachers who left their mark on history, taught their people the word of God.
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Second, he said to him, they stayed in one place for a long time.
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Close quote. It's no wonder there is so many pastors who are throwing the proverbial towel in because there is so much confusion amongst the many factors.
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There's a confusion of what is the church today? They have a unbiblical low view of ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church.
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Who is the church? What is the church? What is the role of a pastor? When they hear things like this from Andy Stanley, whose father,
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Charles Stanley, at one point was president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Andy Stanley is a big church.
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He was addressing people who like to go to small churches. And he said this.
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He went on actually on a tirade. I saw the video pointing fingers at people saying this. You are so stinking selfish, he said.
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You care nothing about the next generation. All you care about is you and your five friends. You don't care about your kids, anyone else's kids.
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If you don't go to a church large enough where you can have enough middle schoolers and high schoolers to separate them so they can have small groups, you are a selfish adult.
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Get over it. Find yourself a big old church where your kids can connect with a bunch of people and grow up and love the local church.
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I mean, I'm so sick of this, he says. I hear this all the time. Well, I just don't like a big church.
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Close quote. This is what is heard from the megachurch pastors.
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What is a church? What is the role of a pastor? In a blog that he wrote last year in Preachers in Preaching, Pastor John MacArthur wrote this, quote,
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You are a pastor. You are not primarily an event coordinator or a financial analyst or even a vision caster or even a leader.
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Your ultimate responsibility is not to innovate or administrate, but to disseminate divine truth.
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Only in that way will you be training up people within your congregation to live and serve effectively and obediently for the honor of God and the impact of the gospel.
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I wasn't there live, but I was watching some of the Shepherd's Conference on livestream this week. And Al Mohler, in his
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Thursday evening session, preached from the mind of Prophet Malachi. And his main emphasis from that text was that the pastor, the preacher, is a messenger from the
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Lord of hosts. And he finished his message with this line, quote,
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If you are a messenger from the Lord of hosts, don't show up Sunday in the pulpit with anything less than a message from the
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Lord of hosts. Close quote. Far cry from evangelical pastors today.
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If you would turn with me in your Bibles to the pastoral epistle, 2 Timothy 2, verse 10.
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2 Timothy 2, verse 10. I want to bring to you this morning a message entitled
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An Enduring Ministry. An Enduring Ministry.
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When so many evangelical pastors are throwing the towel in, quitting the ministry, how is anyone to have an enduring ministry?
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One verse this morning we're going to look at, 2 Timothy 2, verse 10. That's our text. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
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I was driving my oldest daughter to her play rehearsal Friday night, and I said to her, sweetie, we need to be in prayer for Pastor Steve.
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He's taken ill, and I'm going to be preaching in his place on Sunday. So she asked,
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Dad, what are you going to be preaching from? I said, 2 Timothy 2, 10. And I quoted the verse for her.
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Then she started asking me, and I was a little bit slow at first. She says, well, how long is our service?
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I'm like, I don't know. We start at 10 .15. We finish around 11 .30,
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11 .45. And then she asked, how long does the sermon usually? Then it began to dawn on me.
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I said, the sermon's usually about 50 minutes on average. She said, and you're going to talk for 50 minutes on one verse?
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I didn't say this to her, but I thought this. Have I been with you so long? An enduring ministry.
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How to have an enduring ministry. But as we delve into this book, as we airdrop in here this morning, to understand what
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Paul is writing in this one text before us this morning, we have to understand the background. And as I tell people all the time, whether it's preaching or whether you're studying on your own or leading a small group
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Bible study, you need to use your AAA Bible study card. Author, audience, and aim.
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Who is our author? Of course, there's a dual authorship of any book of the Bible, the divine author, the spirit of God, but the human author.
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Well, at the very beginning of our letter, if you look there, chapter 1, verse 1, who is the human author?
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Paul, an apostle. Stop there. Jesus prayed in Luke 6, as recorded by Dr.
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Luke. Went on the mountain to pray an entire night, came down from the mountain, and what did he do? He selected the 12 disciples, whom he also named apostles.
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Paul was not one of those 12. How was Paul called? Acts 9 on the
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Damascus Road by the risen Lord. So he was uniquely called as an apostle. Where the 12 were called by the incarnate
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Christ, Paul was called by the resurrected Lord Jesus in a unique fashion.
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Another difference is the 12 were fishermen. They were casting nets. Paul was educated.
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He was trained under Gamaliel. And he didn't, like the other 12, meet the criteria of an apostle, as recorded in Acts chapter 1.
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When they were trying to find a replacement for Judas, they said we have to find somebody who has been with us the whole time in the ministry of Christ and has been an eyewitness of his resurrection.
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So Paul, the human author of this epistle, who's going to write to us and tell us this morning about how to have an enduring ministry, he was an apostle, uniquely called.
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And he continues in verse 1. An apostle of whom? Of Christ Jesus. It was the Lord who called him.
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And he says, by the will of God. Chapter 1, verse 11.
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We find out more about our author. For which the gospel that he refers to in verse 10 brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which, for the gospel,
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I was appointed what? A preacher and an apostle and a teacher. Turn with me, if you will, to the end of this book, 2
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Timothy 4. Now, as I read these verses to you, you have to be mindful of what
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Paul is writing to young Timothy. And by the way, if you're thinking to yourself, let me nip it in the bud from the beginning.
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Well, you know, I'm not a full -time minister. I'm not a full -time pastor. So I can tune out. I can take a little nap since I lost an hour of sleep also.
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If God has saved you and called you and you are a Christian this morning, he's automatically enrolled you as a minister, whether you get paid for it or not.
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You're a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ as a Christian saved by his grace. So, Paul, in writing to Timothy about an enduring ministry, listen to what he says in chapter 4, verse 9 through 17.
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You can almost hear his heart bleeding over the parchment as he writes. Do your best to come to me soon.
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Why? For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.
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Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me.
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Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Titicus, I have sent to Ephesus.
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When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books and above all the parchments.
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Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
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Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. And listen to this, even more so, if that wasn't enough, verse 16.
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At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.
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May it not be charged against them. Verse 17. But, but, but the
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Lord stood by me and strengthened me. At the end of his ministry, at the end of his life, if anybody had reason to desert and abandon the ministry, it was the
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Apostle Paul. Everyone deserted him. There was no great farewell, great job from a human level.
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The Lord, of course, did not desert him, and he knew that. He says that also you don't have to turn there.
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Listen to the Apostle Paul as he describes his life in ministry in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 11.
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With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
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Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes, less one. Three times
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I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day
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I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers.
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In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
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And apart from other things, Paul says, there is a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
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Give up, Paul! Who's going to endure such a thing? He didn't.
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And this is the author that God, through the Spirit, inspired to write this book, and particularly the text we'll look at this morning.
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How about his audience? Well, we know it's a pastoral epistle. He's writing to Timothy. How does he describe
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Timothy in this epistle? Chapter 1, verse 2. He refers to him as, to Timothy, my beloved child.
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My beloved child. Chapter 2, verse 1, he calls him again, my child. And he continues in the opening chapter of our book, verse 5, chapter 1, verse 5.
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I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother
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Eunice, and now, I'm sure, dwells in you as well.
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Timothy was Paul's spiritual son in the faith. If we read through the book of Acts, Timothy joins
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Paul in Acts chapter 16. Paul picks him up on his second missionary journey.
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And listen to Paul's high commendation of Timothy, the one who he is writing to this epistle to.
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In Philippians chapter 2, Paul says of Timothy, I hope in the
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Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
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For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know
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Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
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High words of praise from Paul about his son in the faith. And what's the aim?
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Paul is writing to Timothy, that's our author, that's our audience. What's the aim of why he's writing to him?
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Primarily, 2 Timothy has three overall aims. Number one, it's to pass on the mantle, the baton of ministry.
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The first aim that Paul is writing to Timothy is so that he may pass on the mantle, the baton of ministry to Timothy.
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Notice in chapter 2 of our book, verse 2. And what you have heard from me,
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Timothy hearing from Paul, in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
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Four generations, Paul to Timothy, to faithful men.
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Interesting, he's characterizing them as faithful men, not fruitful men. I wonder if Andy Stanley believes, well done, my good and faithful servant, will be said only to pastors of large churches who will be able to teach others also.
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That's the first thing that Paul's writing to Timothy, to pass on the baton of ministry to him. Second aim that Paul is writing, to charge the young pastor to faithfully carry out his pastoral calling.
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To charge the young pastor, Timothy, to faithfully carry out his pastoral calling. Look at some of these verses with me in our book, 2
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Timothy. Chapter 1, verse 13. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
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By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
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Chapter 2, verse 15. He's continuing to charge the young pastor to faithfully carry out his calling as a pastor.
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Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly hailing the word of truth.
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The Greek word that's used there in chapter 2, verse 15, accurately or rightly hailing the word of truth.
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I have a vivid imagery of it. Back in the day, in my younger days, when I would help my dad on his job, before people used to paint their walls, we used to put up wallpaper.
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And it was quite a task to do that. You put on the glue, you spread out the table, make sure the seams line up.
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Because if it didn't line up and the glue dried, here we go, scraping it off again. That's the idea in 2
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Timothy 2, verse 15. You accurately handle the word of truth so much so that when you put it together, it's seamless.
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Fulfill your duty as a pastor, Paul is saying. In chapter 4, of course, verse 1.
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As he continues to highlight the second aim, charging the young pastor. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.
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Preach the word. Be ready in season, out of season.
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Reprove, rebuke, and exhort. With complete patience and teaching.
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The third and final aim that Paul is writing to Timothy. Not only first to pass the baton of ministry, not only also to charge him to fulfill his duty as a pastor, but third, as it relates to our text in 2 .10,
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the third aim is that he wanted to exhort Timothy to endure suffering for the gospel, as Paul himself had done.
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He's exhorting Timothy, endure suffering for the gospel, and Paul says, as I have endured.
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Chapter 1, verse 8, for example. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our
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Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel.
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How? By the power of God. Continuing in verse 10 of chapter 1. Through the gospel for which
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I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and teacher, which is why I suffer,
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Paul says, as I do. In chapter 2, verse 3, share in suffering,
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I love this metaphor, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Our commanding officer is the risen
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Lord Jesus Christ. We are soldiers in his army. And part of that, Paul is saying to Timothy, you are to suffer and share in suffering with me.
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He's exhorting him to do that. Now, where is Paul writing this letter? He's writing it from prison.
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It's one of the Pauline prison epistles. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, our text is verse 10.
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But look with me, the verse right before that. For which I'm suffering, bound with chains as a criminal.
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As a criminal. But just as important, if not more important, is when is
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Paul writing this? He's writing this at the very end of his life. 2
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Timothy 4. Look at 6 and 7 with me. For I'm already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
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I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.
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This is Paul's swan song. This is it. He knew his time of departure was to come.
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And so as Timothy is reading this from the parchment with his eyes intently on every word that Paul is writing to him,
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Timothy knows that these are Paul's last words. And last words are always lasting words.
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It's like somebody near and dear to you, a family member or somebody who has mentored you or been like a spiritual father the way
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Paul was to Timothy, lying there on their deathbed, whispering their last words to you.
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You're intently leaning over, listening to what they had to say. So Timothy knew, as he's reading this, the reality of Paul's departure from this earth.
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So he took it all in. So back to our text.
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That's the background. Paul, who had every reason to quit based on what he endured in ministry, writing to his son in the faith,
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Timothy, to exhort him to endure as well. The main thing that Paul says in verse 10 is,
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I endure everything. That's the thrust. I endure everything. The word endure, ipomeno, is part of that word the
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Lord Jesus Christ uses in John 15 when he says, abide in me and I abide in you.
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It literally means to remain under, remain under the pressure, remain under the suffering, remain under no matter what opposition comes to you from others for the sake of the gospel.
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It's to persist. It's to literally persevere, to endure and not give up.
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And notice what he says in verse 10. What does he endure? Only certain things? Everything.
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Everything. So the question for the remaining of our time I want us to address based upon our text is, why was
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Paul, who was exhorting his young son in the faith, why was Paul able to endure everything? Two reasons, if you want to take an outline.
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Based on this text, Paul says, there are two reasons why I endure everything. Reason number one, very simple but profound, the word of God.
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That's why he endured everything. Notice how our verse begins. Verse 10.
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Therefore, which forces us to look back at the immediate context.
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Let's go back even to verse 8. Remember Jesus Christ? He exhorts Timothy. And how does he describe
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Jesus? Risen from the dead, his resurrection confirmed, the Father's confirmation of the
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Lord's work. And as Paul writes to Romans, being declared the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, it was an ultimate proof of his deity.
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And then he describes him, secondly, as the offspring of David. He goes to his human lineage, and the kingly lineage that he is royalty, and he will sit on the throne of his father
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David. And notice verse 8 at the end. As preached in my gospel, and here it is, the therefore is going back to verse 9.
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The gospel, verse 9, for which I, Paul, am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal.
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But the word of God is not bound. The word of God is not bound.
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Paul is showing a stark contrast here. Look, even though I, even for the sake of the gospel, the gospel which is about Jesus Christ, even though I'm bound as a criminal, the one who is the proclaimer of this gospel, of this word, that doesn't bind the word of God.
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Paul is showing this contrast, that though I'm bound, the word of God is not fettered. It is free. At one point, under the city of Rome, there were 600 catacombs.
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They were built by Christians, actually, and used for about 10 generations, over 300 years. And the
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Christians built these catacombs for a number of purposes, two of which were for meeting places, and also for burial places.
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And you know one of the most common inscriptions in those catacombs was this, quote right from 2
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Timothy, the word of God is not bound. The word of God is not bound.
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That's what was inscribed in those catacombs. In chapter 3 of our book, verse 14,
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Paul tells Timothy, tells him about the sacred writings, the sacred writings, which he had learned from the beginning, he was acquainted since childhood, and which were able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Well, it's those sacred writings that are not bound. He continues in verse 16 of chapter 3, we're familiar with this verse, all scripture is breathed out by God, and is useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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It's that scripture which is profitable for all those things, that is not bound. And he continues in chapter 4, verse 1, where Paul, I read this earlier, charged
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Timothy to preach the word. It's that word which Paul told Timothy to preach that is not bound, even though he says in chapter 4, verse 3, that man will turn aside for the truth, and turn aside to miz.
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They will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. Even though the word of God is still not bound.
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Paul knew this very well. Writing from his other prison epistle, the book of Philippians, in the opening chapter he says this, quote,
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I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to all the rest, that my imprisonment is for Christ.
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And most of the brothers haven't become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
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His imprisonment motivated the other believers to preach more boldly the word of God. Well, what about today?
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What about today? Very apropos nowadays, especially with the primaries and the elections coming up.
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MacArthur, in his commentary on this specific verse, says the following, quote, many Christians are under the illusion that God's word has been influential in the
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Western world, especially in such democracies as the United States, primarily because of legal guarantees of freedom of religion, and that the fight to keep that freedom is therefore a fight to preserve the power of the gospel.
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In fact, some Christians who would never think of confronting society with a bold and demanding gospel and being censured for it, will strongly fight for some social or political issue in ways that might get them arrested.
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Religious freedom is certainly commendable, and Christians who enjoy it should be grateful for it and take advantage of the opportunities it affords for worship, witness, and service.
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But the power of God's word has never been dependent on man's protection or subject to man's restriction.
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That is precisely Paul's point. The word of God is not and cannot be imprisoned.
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Many of you might be familiar with this name, John Knox, well -known Scottish reformer, but might not be as familiar with his successor,
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Andrew Melville. Don't get confused with Herman Melville. This is Andrew Melville. One time when
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Andrew was arrested, the officer who arrested the arresting officer said to him these exact words, quote, there will never be quietness in this country till half a dozen of you be hanged or banished from the country.
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You know what Melville's response was? It is the same to me whether I rot in the air or in the ground.
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The earth is the Lord's. My fatherland is wherever well -doing is. I have been ready to give my life when it was not half as well worn at the pleasure of my
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God. I lived out of your country ten years as well as in it. Yet God be glorified. It will not lie in your power to hang or exile
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His truth. Why? Because the word of God cannot be bound.
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Why did God say through Isaiah the prophet, God speaking, through His own prophet in Isaiah 55, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making a barren sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be.
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It shall not return to me empty or void. It will accomplish that thing which I desire it to accomplish.
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The word of God is not void. And because of that, Paul is saying to Timothy, endure everything. Don't give up.
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Don't throw the towel in. The second reason to have an enduring ministry, the second motivation besides the word of God, is this, number two, the elect of God.
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The elect of God. Not only the word of God, but the elect of God.
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The word is God. It's the word of God. It's breathed out by the Spirit. But the elect that he talks about here in verse 10, therefore
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I endure everything for who's sake? For the sake of the elect. They are the elect of God. God is the one who chose them.
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But what does he mean by that? Well, to really understand, is look at the Hinnah clause or prepositional phrase that follows in our text.
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For the sake of the elect, that they, and here's a key word, that they also may obtain.
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That they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Also, not just myself,
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Paul, not just you, Timothy, and others who have been saved and obtained the salvation, but they also may obtain the salvation.
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What he's saying, in other words, he's talking about the elect who have yet to believe.
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That's why you endure and suffer hostility in ministry. This is beautifully illustrated.
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Turn with me in Acts. Acts chapter 18. Beautiful illustration of this.
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He's suffering for the sake of the elect, for those whom God has chosen, but yet have not obtained that salvation.
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Who have yet to believe. And they will believe. I remember a church
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I was preaching at a couple weeks ago. I did a Sunday school class and we were discussing the doctrine of election and somebody raised their hand during Sunday school and asked,
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Do you have to believe the doctrine of election to be saved? I said, No. And somebody else went, Phew! But you'll never be saved if you're not elect, whether you believe that or not.
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I don't have to give the gospel, the power, the unbound word of God to somebody first having to convince him.
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This is what we discussed about apologetics. Look, let me prove to you first that this is the word of God in order for it to have its salvific effect in your life.
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God is not bound by whether the unregenerate believe it or not. That's the word of God. That's not bound.
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But what about the elect of God? Why is Paul suffering for the sake of the elect who have yet to believe? Acts chapter 18.
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We find Paul is in Corinth. I remember in 1999 when a young Harry with his bride were in Greece.
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We went to Corinth and we visited the old ruins there. And we know about the history of the
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Corinthian church. And we sat in the ruins there in Corinth and I read this exact passage. Let's see what's happening to Paul here which beautifully illustrates what he's saying to Timothy about suffering for the sake of the elect who have yet to believe.
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Verse 1 of Acts 18. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a
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Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the
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Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked.
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For they were tent makers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade
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Jews and Greeks. Verse 5. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the
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Word. I love that. He was occupied with the Word, the Word of God that is unbound.
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Continues. Testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them,
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Your blood be on your heads. I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the
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Gentiles. And he left there, verse 7, and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
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His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the
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Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing
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Paul, believed and were baptized. So here's Paul giving the
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Word of God in Corinth. It says clearly in the text that there's opposition and reviling against him.
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And yet God uses the unbound Word of God to save some people. But let's see what's happening with Paul in the meantime.
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Verse 9. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent.
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Because Paul would have thought, even though people had come to faith in Christ, because of the opposition and reviling...
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I'm going to go to the Gentiles now. The Lord says, Not yet. Don't be silent. Keep on speaking.
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Verse 10. Why? He gives them the reason why. And this is the relationship to our text in 2
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Timothy 2 .10. For I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you.
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And watch this. For I have many in this city who are my people.
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I have many in this city who are my people. The elect who have yet to believe. Keep on speaking.
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Don't be silent. God could have made it easy for us, which Spurgeon used to say, you know, if he would just put a nice red
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E on the back of everybody, I would just preach the gospel to those people. But we're to preach to every creature.
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And we endure for the sake of the elect who have yet to believe. More, doesn't that stifle our efforts in evangelism?
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Absolutely not. Quite the opposite. Turn with me briefly to Romans 9.
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How can Paul clearly say to young Pastor Timothy at the end of his life, I endure everything for the sake of the elect who have yet to obtain that salvation, who have yet to believe.
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We're familiar with this text. But I wanted to show you it in light of what
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Paul is writing to Timothy. Chapter nine. Let's read from verse 10.
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Paul is expounding the doctrine of election. And not only so, but also he goes back to what he had for his scripture, the
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Old Testament. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born.
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First of all, and obviously because of that, he continues and had nothing and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue.
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Watch this, not because of works, but because of him who calls. She was told the older will serve the younger as it is written,
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Jacob, I love, but Esau, I hated. Verse 14. He knows the objections that are coming from his readers.
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What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means.
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The Greek is the strongest Greek negative. Me. Literally perish that thought. Don't even dare think about it.
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Verse 15. For he says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy and I'll have compassion on whom
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I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
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Well, that sounds like it's an open and shut case. God will do the work and he calls people.
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What is there for me to do? Well, let's look at the book ends of what Paul wrote here in chapter nine.
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Look at verse three of chapter nine with me and then chapter 10, verse one. And I remind you that the chapters are not inspired.
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There's a continuation of thought and Paul uses here. Literary device includes your word. He uses the same thought to encapsulate like bookends.
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What are you saying about the doctrine of election? The same apostle wrote the doctrine of election, who tells Timothy, you are to endure ministry.
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You and to endure. Do you continue to be faithful in ministry for the sake of the elect? Writes this verse three of chapter nine
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Romans. For I could wish that I myself were what a curse, literally damn to hell and cut off from Christ.
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Why? For the sake of my brothers. Doesn't seem to me that the doctrine of election inhibited
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Paul's evangelistic zeal. Actually, it bursted forth even more.
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Chapter 10, verse one is the other book and. Brothers, my heart's desire.
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Can you hear his passion, his heartbeat and prayer to God for them is what that they may be saved.
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And don't forget, Paul went on three missionary journeys and he continues in chapter 10, verse 13.
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If you would look there with me. And this is why he can write, given to the background of why
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Paul, who's writing to Timothy endure everything for the sake of the elect, who have yet to believe, who have yet to obtain salvation.
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Why is he able to write that? Because of this. Verse 13, for everyone who calls on the name of the
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Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
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And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching and how are they to preach?
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Unless they are sent as it is written. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says,
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Lord, who has believed what we, he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
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Paul is saying to Timothy, endure everything like I have for the sake of the elect.
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For those who have yet to believe, continue to minister the word of God and preach the gospel because you don't know who is.
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Have you ever looked at other people, those in your family and your friends? When you give the evangel, the gospel and think to yourself, they might be one changes your whole perspective because it doesn't inhibit your evangelism.
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What it ought to do. It should give you the freedom not to coerce him, but the bully give forth the word of God.
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Knowing as acts 1348 says, all who are appointed to eternal life will believe
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Spurgeon said one time in a message that you say to some people, he says,
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I don't want to become a Christian. I'm not going to become a Christian, but he says, you can say that, but if God has called you, he will take your will and turn it around to want what you'd never wanted before.
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An associate of mine, a young man who was working at my store and on the, in the workplace was with us last year for a very brief period of time.
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And he moved on to another job. And many times you think, why is that person there? But now as I look back, I know what he was there by God's providence, a very respectful young man, but he loves to take the
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Lord's name in vain. And I never hit him over the head with a hammer about it. But one night as we were closing together,
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I had the doors locked so he couldn't go anywhere. After all, I'm the manager. I said to him,
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I noticed you use the Lord's name in vain once in a while, just kind of in a gentle, gracious manner.
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And he paused with silence. Maybe he thought I was going to come down on him.
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Maybe he's had that happen to him before. I don't know. And after a long pause, he said, yeah, I know
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I do. So I said, how can you do such a thing?
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No, I didn't say that, but what do you believe in? He said,
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I'm a very spiritual person. And he left it at that. We've all heard that, right? So I said to him,
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I believe in him. I believe. And I went through who Jesus is and what he did.
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The gospel. I believe that he is the eternal son of God. I believe that by his own authority, he came here to earth, took on human flesh for one purpose, to live a perfect human, sinless life that he,
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God demanded of you and I to live that we couldn't. And to die in our stead, in our place for those who would believe in him.
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And then he's coming back one day. And at that point, he jumped in. He said, has he come back yet? I said, oh, no, you would know if he was back.
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Not back yet. And he said, well, I guess I fit that description. He says, because I, he,
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I find out that he had grown up in an evangelical church, growing to Sunday school ever since he was we high. So I'm a
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Christian, right? So I said, gently again, well, a Christian is somebody who believes. And I went through all that again, who
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Jesus is and what he has done. I said to him, would have you have a Bible of your own? He says, no, I don't.
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I said, if I get you a Bible, would you read it? He says, yes. So the next time I saw him at work, I brought him a
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Bible and I showed him, okay, I want you to read in the gospel of John one chapter at a time. And if you have any questions, talk to me about it.
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Third time. I asked him, did you read anything? He says, I did, but it's not the normal kind of reading that I do.
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I kind of chuckled inside. I said, I get it. And I said to myself, and I thought of the
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Ethiopian eunuch with Philip, right? When he's reading from Isaiah, Philip comes to him and says, do you understand? How can I understand?
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He says, if no one shows me. So I said to him, young man, I said, if you're willing, I'll come an hour early to work.
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You meet me and I'll walk you through the gospel of John together. That didn't happen.
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And within a week he was gone from the job. But I don't know.
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God knows that we do all that for the sake of the elect and don't get discouraged because we don't know who they are, who might yet still.
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God has many people still. And notice as we close, what he says in our text, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.
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And watch this last part. Don't miss it. With eternal glory. This is awesome.
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So the elect from eternity past with eternal glory to eternity future.
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That's what the beginning of this particular epistle, second Timothy, and also to Titus, Paul writes to both young pastors and talks about what happened before the ages began.
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He says in chapter one of our book, verse nine, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
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So before the ages began in eternity past, God had chosen and elected.
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And that point in time, he saved us. You know, even the elect at one point, because when Paul writes to the
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Ephesian church in emphasis, he says in chapter two, verse one, you were past tense, dead in your trespasses and sins.
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But God elects an eternity past and saves by the regenerating power of his spirit in time manifest.
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Now he says the same thing to Titus in the opening chapter. He says this in hope of eternal life, which
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God, who never lies, promise before the ages began. That's eternity past before the ages began.
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And then he says, and that the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which
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I have been entrusted. By the command of God, our savior. So you endure any opposition, any rejection when things don't seem to be going how you want them to be going in ministry, because we all are in ministry for the sake of the elect who have yet to obtain that salvation.
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Did not Paul say this in Romans eight, those whom he predestined, right? Eternity past.
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He also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified with eternal glory.
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Same thing. So whether you are a parent raising your children in the nurture and admonition of the
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Lord, whether you are a Sunday school teacher, whether you have coworkers who have no idea about the gospel or school classmates who neither care or whatever you do, you endure everything for two reasons.
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The unbounded word of God. And for the sake of God's elect. Let's pray.
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Father, we thank you for the truth of your word, that it is timeless and eternal. We thank you for your
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Holy Spirit, who is our ultimate teacher. And we pray, Father, that we would not be, first of all, as a body, that Bethlehem Bible Church would not be like so many other where pastors are.
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Dropping left and right. But Father, even as individuals and as families, that we would endure everything as the
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Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy, for because of the word of God, which is unbound, and because for the sake of those elect who have yet to obtain salvation.
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May you give us grace, strength, courage, and boldness to persevere till we see you face to face.