Boldly Carry on the Ministry of Truth

Transcript

GRM 564
3/22/1998
Boldly Carry on the Ministry of Truth
2 Timothy 1:13-2:13
Gil Rugh

We looked in our previous study at three of the commands that God gave to Timothy, relating to his responsibility to the word of God. In 2 Timothy, Chapter 1, verse 13, he was to retain the word, have it in his possession, hold on to it. In verse 14 he was to guard the word, called the treasure, which has been deposited with you. Guard it, protect it, be sure that there are no changes, alterations, additions, subtractions made, responsible to maintain the purity of God’s word. And then down in chapter 2, verse 2 he was to entrust these truths to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So there is to be an ongoing process and we are the beneficiaries of that faithful process of faithful individuals, down over the 2,000 years since Paul wrote this. Men have taught it and entrusted it to others, and it has been passed on.


Now the context in which Paul gave those commands is important, because it reminds us that a faithful ministry with the truth will not be an easy ministry. It will not necessarily be an enjoyable ministry, in the normal sense of that word. But it will be a ministry that is somewhat intimidating, will be a ministry that is costly and it will be a ministry that will cause some to turn away. Earlier in 2 Timothy, chapter 1 Paul expressed his confidence in the genuineness of Timothy’s salvation. In verse 5 he talked about, I’m mindful of the sincere faith within you, and it first dwelt in your grandmother and in your mother, and I’m sure it is in you as well. So I have firm confidence, Timothy, in your salvation and that your faith is unshakably placed in Jesus Christ, and so for this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Now, he’s not implying here that Timothy had become lazy or laxed necessarily, but it is the challenge to fan the flame even hotter, kick it up a notch, so to speak, kindle afresh, stir up that gift, make it burn hotter, is the idea. And you understand, as Paul anticipates that he’ll be leaving this earth, Timothy is going to take up a major role along with others in carrying on the ministry. It’s time to step up, if you will, and be sure that you’re getting every ounce you can out of the gift that God has given you, you’re applying yourself to the maximum. “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” And here you see, the reminder that’s going to color, really, all that he says in chapter l and the first part of chapter 2. There’s no room for cowardice here. That word “timidity” means to be a coward, to act cowardly, to be timid, and this is a concern of the apostle Paul, because in this context there would be a danger of shrinking back, of being ashamed or embarrassed by the gospel, and afraid of the price that might be exacted from you if you do, faithfully and hotly, if you will, with a burning passion. Carry on the ministry of the word.

So he says God has not given us a spirit of timidity, cowardice. That doesn’t come from the Lord. That reluctance, that fear, the embarrassment, that’s not produced by God in our lives. The Holy Spirit who indwells us is a Spirit of power, an enablement.


Back up to Ephesians, chapter 3. You remember Timothy served at Ephesus. Now Paul is asking him to come to Rome to spend some time with him, but Timothy carried on a ministry at Ephesus. Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians earlier, in fact he wrote it during a previous Roman imprisonment and in chapter 3 of Ephesians and verse 16 Paul prayed, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power, through His Spirit in the inner man. That’s what he’s telling Timothy. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of power in the inner man. So, He overcomes the fleshly timidity and cowardliness, reluctance and embarrassment that we all experience when it comes to being bold with the gospel. Well, you know, I’m just not that kind of person, that just doesn’t come naturally to me, and we tend to think the apostle Paul is cut from a different piece of cloth. You know, he’s just the kind of guy that just charged in and it never bothered him, but we know he did experience fear, and he would write and say, I was with you in much weakness and fear. But he didn’t allow that to be the dominating characteristic of his life, rather he drew upon the power that the Holy Spirit gave, and provided for him and the inner man to do what was not necessarily natural. And Timothy may have had even a greater problem than Paul did and he needed to realize any cowardice, any timidity, he was feeling, was not being produced by the Spirit of God. So, wipe out that excuse.
We need to have what the Holy Spirit of God produces in the life of the child who submits to Him, and that is the power of God at work in the life.


God has given us a Spirit of power and of love, and that’s the first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, a love for others. Paul saw his ministry of the truth in the context of being in love with people and demonstrating his love, the love of God that was self-sacrificing and self-giving and Paul saw himself giving himself in love in the ministry of the word of God, to God’s people and to the lost alike, if you will. And He’s given us a Spirit of Discipline. The idea seems to be self-discipline, self-control. In other words you take charge of your life, not in the sense of the power of positive thinking and all the seminars that go on of, you know, you can think it, you can do it and creating that sense of self in the wrong idea. But here the idea that by the grace of God I discipline myself, like Paul said in 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, at the end of that chapter, I discipline my body and bring it into submission. And there he talked about severe discipline of the body. I make my body do what it should do in service for Jesus Christ. That’s the idea here. Timothy, you step up and if you will, by the grace of God and in the power He provides, you discipline yourself to do what is right for you as a servant of God. Now that would fit in the context, you know, kindle afresh the gift that is in you, exercise the discipline that is necessary for you to have affective ministry for Jesus Christ.

This is in the context, broader now, of not being ashamed and that’s Paul’s concern. He mentions it several times. Verse 7 says God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love and discipline, therefore, verse 8, do not be ashamed. Then down in verse l2, for this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed. Down in verse l6, the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he was not ashamed of my chains. This concerned what Paul was experiencing in the ministry there, a falling off. There were casualties and they seemed to be multiplying as the pressure was applied and Paul wanted Timothy to cut through all of this and recognize that the cowardice was not coming from God. This was not the better part of valor or wisdom. You have to know when to retrieve as well as when to charge, so we begin to say it’s just not the right time.

Sometimes we see people we think are overly bold and we cover behind that with they’re just not sensitive enough. And we should be sensitive, we talked about that the portion of our study in Colossians. We need to be sensitive and aware of the situation of the people we’re dealing with. But we need to be very careful that that does not become an excuse for being less than bold and aggressive in the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, in verse 8 Paul said, “do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner.”
And Paul saw the two going together. Those who were abandoning Paul, whatever reasons they were giving, were really abandoning the clear, bold testimony for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That will become clear in some verses further along in a moment. So, he joins them together, “don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.” In other words, the testimony that is borne for the Lord, the testimony we have for Christ, or of me, His prisoner. Because why is Paul a prisoner? Because of his testimony for the Lord.


You can understand how it would have been easy in New Testament times for people to say, you know, I don’t have any problem with the gospel and I think we ought to share the gospel with people. I just think Paul is too offensive in the way he does it. I think being identified with Paul, you don’t have to be identified with Paul to be identified with the message because it’s Paul’s personality and relentlessness. He doesn’t know when not to pursue it, and it’s his lack of sensitivity that’s causing the problem. You could build all kinds of reasons why you’re abandoning Paul, but you’re not abandoning the gospel.

Paul didn’t have any other, we don’t find any of this introspection at the end of his life here. That, you know, I’m rethinking things in light of the casualties, those who have served with me that have abandoned me, I need to rethink my approach. There’s none of that. Paul’s concern to the end is what? That people will step up and manifest the kind of boldness that he demonstrated in his commitment to Christ, which is a tremendously costly ministry. “I am not ashamed,” don’t be ashamed. The word carries the idea of being embarrassed. Remember Romans, Chapter 1, verse l6, Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation, to everyone who believes.” “I’m not ashamed,” I’m not embarrassed about the gospel.

Now I read these, and I can preach on these, but I have to say, it’s a lot harder to put it into practice and if we’re honest as Christians. We are embarrassed by the gospel more often than we would like to say, to just step up and bring the gospel into a conversation. You know we ought to realize that people are lost, they are without hope in this world. And I am reluctant to talk to them because I am afraid quite frankly. I’m embarrassed and ashamed of what they will think of me. How will they talk about me? What will happen if I do talk about Christ?


He goes on to elaborate, and we’re not going into the details because we want to move into chapter 2, but he unfolds here in verses 8-11 about what God has done for us in Christ. Then he picks up again, verse 12, for this reason I suffer these things, because of the salvation God has provided in Christ. Christ is the one, verse 10, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this reason, I suffer these things, but I am not ashamed. Paul is paying a price for his testimony for Christ. He says I am not ashamed and I’m not embarrassed. He had full confidence in the one in whom he had believed.

Come down to verse l5. “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.” We see some of what has been happening and Paul’s concerned. Here he is in prison in Rome, facing execution and at this time he sees an erosion taking place, well know believers putting distance between themselves and Paul. No wonder he calls Timothy not to be shaken by this, to step up and take the leadership. “All who are in Asia turned away from me.” We’re talking about Asia Minor, the area where Ephesus, Colossae, Laodicea, the seven churches of Asia, Revelation 2 and 3, are located. Paul’s not saying there, I don’t believe, that everyone in Asia Minor abandoned him, which seemed an indication here is some from Asia had been with him in Rome, but they were bailing out. So those who had been in Rome who were with him from Asia Minor, they left. The handwriting is on the wall, the cost is too great. “All who are in Asia have abandoned me.”


You know we deal delicately with people. Here we have immortalized in the word of God again, two failures, two other individuals who did not finish well, who missed a great opportunity. Wouldn’t it been wonderful to be, if you will, immortalized in the eternal word of God and if it could have been said, Phygelus and Hermogenes have stood firm and faithful? Two thousand years of church history, we would be honoring those men for their commitment to Christ, but what are they? They’re failures. They turned away from me. They were ashamed of the gospel and of me, Phygelus and Hermogenes.

But Onesiphorus was a man of a different stripe. And that’s where you see, “he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me.” So, it seems the context of how they reacted to Paul, to come in and visit Paul, find out where do you have him imprisoned now, I want to go visit him. All of a sudden you know what that does for you? That identifies you with Paul and places you in an awkward position. There’s a man of character, a man of commitment, a man of faithfulness, Onesiphorus.

There are several verbs here, I mentioned three of them in our study previously, “retain,” “guard” and “entrust.” I want you to take note of some other verbs that surround this. Look at verse 8, “Join with me in suffering for the gospel.” That’s given as a command. You’ll want to mark that in your bible if you’ve marked the other verbs. “Join with me in suffering for the gospel,” the last part of Chapter 1, verse 8. That’s a command to Timothy. Down in chapter 2, verse 1, “You therefore my son, be strong.” That’s a command, “be strong.” Down in verse 3, another command, “suffer hardship.” Three commands and these are three sharp commands, chapter 1, verse 8, chapter 2, verse 1 and verse 3, aorist imperatives, the sharpest way to give a command, there are things you must do.


So you see, he’s told them to “retain the standard of sound words”, to “guard the treasure of God’s truth”, to “entrust it to others.” But you put this in the framework now of verse 8 of chapter 1, “Join with me in suffering for the gospel.” Chapter 2, verse 1, “Be strong in God’s grace.” Verse 3, “Suffer hardship.” So we get a more complete picture. Oh yes, I want to be one who “retains the standard of sound words.” I want to be one of those who” guards the truth”, involved in the process of entrusting it to others. But you see the context here? There’s a price to be paid to do that. You will lose friends. People that may have been very close to you over time will find reasons to be gone. There will be those like Phygelus and Hermogenes who will be gone. Demas in chapter 4, leaves. All of a sudden you say, well boy, you know, I want to “retain the standard” and “guard the truth” and “entrust it to others,” but I want to do it with my friends, and I don’t want to lose friends over this. And then we begin to make adjustments. You think Timothy didn’t think about these things. Paul’s going to be gone. It’s one thing when he could hold on to Paul but what about when Paul’s gone? Well, it becomes all the more important to step up, does it not? So “suffer hardship with me”, “join with me in suffering for the gospel.”


The strength in chapter 2, verse 1 is in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and that would tie us back to the power that the Holy Spirit brings to the life. We’re not to be strong in ourselves, we’re to “be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might,” as Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 10 says. “Be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might.” So, Timothy has at his disposal a strength beyond himself. He can’t fall back and say, you know, I’m just not the apostle Paul, I would never be able to do that. We’re not asking what you can do in yourself, we’re calling you to do what can only be done in the strength of the Lord and the power of His might. We don’t need ministry done in our strength, with our abilities. We need ministry that’s done in God’s strength, with the abilities that only He can give. “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Verse 3 of chapter 2, “Suffer hardship with me.”

There are two other imperatives we’re going to come upon here. Down in verse 7, “consider” is a command and verse 8 is “remember,” which is also a command. In verse 3 he calls him to “suffer hardship with me as a good soldier.” So really verse 8 he said, “join with me in suffering,” in chapter 1. Now he picks that up in verse 3, “suffer hardship with me.”
Now he’s going to unfold a little bit of what it means to suffer hardship. Let me give you some examples, Timothy, so you’ll appreciate there’s a price to be paid in our service for Jesus Christ. So the first example or illustration is suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Suffer hardship as a soldier. Well, we would understand good soldiers, the Roman legionnaires, the Roman soldiers, suffered hardship in the service of the emperor. I mean the life of a soldier was not expected to be easy. Good illustration for Timothy, be like a soldier. A soldier pays a price and leaves behind the comforts, puts off extraneous things, and commits himself to the battle and warfare of his emperor. So “no soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who has enlisted him as a soldier.” Literally, no one soldiering, you don’t get entangled in the affairs of everyday life.


As I think of the life of the apostle Paul, this is, perhaps, one of the major things that enabled him to go at the ministry as whole heartedly as he did. You know our entanglements mire us down, one kind and another. There are certain entanglements that are just part of our responsibility, jobs to provide for our family and family responsibilities and so on. Paul had kept himself free of these things, which was part of the giftedness God had given him. But now Paul calls Timothy to avoid any unnecessary entanglements that would hinder his ministry. Consider yourself an active-duty soldier, is the idea.

Verse 5, the comparison is with an athlete. “Anyone who competes as an athlete, does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” You must compete according to the rules, you must compete according to what is required. What is this telling Timothy? Timothy, it’s not enough to be in the service of the Lord, you must be in the service of the Lord, carrying out your responsibility as God requires you to carry it out. So, the suffering for the gospel, the suffering hardship, that’s part of what is required in being a good servant of Jesus Christ. You have to compete according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive the share of his crops, the reward is given for faithfulness, for diligence, for hard work. You see in each of these, the soldier, the athlete, the hard-working farmer, the picture is of the cost. It is hard work to faithfully serve the Lord. That is why it is very difficult for the church of Jesus Christ to function effectively in affluence, because we get soft. The good life softens us and that carries over. I just don’t expect hardship. You know when I have visited Christians in places like China I wonder, could I be faithful in this kind of environment, would I, with the price that is paid here, and I realize that I have gotten sort of comfortable and acclimated to the comfort of my life. I realize faithfulness requires hard work. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with having things, praise God for the blessings we have. But be careful if we have to work harder to keep the edge on our Christianity, as he drives home the point here of faithfulness.

Back up to Matthew, chapter 5. There’s nothing new in any of this. Matthew, Chapter 5, verse 10, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It becomes a mark of a genuine believer, that he suffers for the sake of righteousness. Now again, it doesn’t mean necessarily in our society you’re carted off to prison to wait martyrdom, but it may be you suffer embarrassment and rejection, being ostracized, you suffer the loss of friends or family. But here, “blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.” The beatitudes, these blessings, are upon those who are believers. They’ve become, if you will, descriptive of believers. Look at verse 11, “Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of Me.” You know that they’re saying it falsely because we’re not really involved in evil, and it is on account of Me, for the testimony for Christ. “Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” It’s an identifying mark of a believer.


“Blessed are you when you’re reviled, when you’re persecuted, when people say all kind of evil against you.” We sometime say, why do people talk so bad about Indian Hills? What are we doing wrong? I’m not saying we’re not doing some things that we couldn’t strengthen or improve, but maybe we’re doing something right too. The more clearly you become identified with God’s truth, the more people will talk against you. Why did they say the early church practiced cannibalism? Why didn’t they just go to a service and find out. Well, no, because the real issue wasn’t what the church was practicing, the real issue was animosity toward the proclamation of truth, and it goes on relentlessly in little ways.

An example came up today. Someone was here from out of state. There was a conference on the West Coast that they were at here in the last couple of weeks and someone was there and said in a crowd, Gil Rugh was here, but he didn’t like what was being said so he just left and gone home already. Well, you know I haven’t been out of the State here for a long time. Now that person knows me that said that, why would that person say, Gil Rugh was here and didn’t like what was being said and went home. This person here today said you know, I didn’t think I saw you there, were you there. I said no. They said I’m going back and talk to this person. You know, you go back and talk to this person and he’ll say, oh, I must have been mistaken. But you know what happens in that crowd. You don’t get it all brought back in, so you know what they say, Gil Rugh was here, yea, he didn’t like what was being said. I say, how did I get such a bad reputation? I get one when I’m not even there. I mean, I stayed home. Little things that go on and just happens and I say why do these things go on, why do people want to talk about me, why do they want to talk about you. I’m always amazed how many people want to talk about this church. I think, well, I’m glad in that sense but often what they want to say is not good, but we shouldn’t be surprised.


So you note here the persecution is not just physical persecution. When they “revile you, say all kind of evil against you.” So we’re in a position I’m going to be so sensitive, you’re going to be so sensitive, we, as a church, get so sensitive, we’re afraid, I just don’t like all the negative things that are said. Well, you know, part of that goes with the territory of truth. Now again, I’m not saying that there aren’t things that I couldn’t improve in my life, or we couldn’t improve in our church, and I want to have as good a testimony as we can in that sense. But in the other sense, the harder we work at it being godly, the harder we work at faithfully proclaiming the truth, the worse our reputation is going to get. I mean they’re going to execute Paul and they’re going to have such charges that they finally can bring the Romans to the point of putting him to death. They did that with Christ. Was there anything wrong? No. So, we need to be careful. There is a price to be paid for identification with the truth. We say, oh yes, that’s what we want to do. The test comes, the pressure gets on and now all of a sudden do I really want to hold on to the truth and guard the truth and pass it on. People are finding reasons not to.


Some of you have shared with me this week, different people, about how bothered you are. People you meet that one time came to Indian Hills, now you meet them and they talk and they just talk glowingly about the bible teaching at Indian Hills, but they’re not coming here. I say, what’s wrong, why did you leave in the first place? Well, you know. One of you shared with me this past week, a family who left because they, well I just don’t want the conflict. The teaching is great, the people are great, I don’t want the conflict. Somethings can’t be helped. Because, what if we begin to think like this? What? We become embarrassed, we become ashamed of the truth. We want to be careful that we don’t say things that will be misunderstood that will become ammunition against us. Don’t want to be known as anti-homosexual, anti-women, anti, anti. It’s not my problem. God said no. I mean it’s not our problem as a church. We have to stand, though the price that’s paid.

Come back to 2 Timothy. I emphasize this because that’s what I say is the balance that puts us in perspective. Every Christian would say yes to the three commands that we studied in our previous study. Yes, hold on to the word, retain it, entrust it, but if we’re really going to do that in the biblical sense, you’re called to join in suffering for the gospel, you’re commanded to suffer hardship and the illustrations that are given.

The motivation in this in verse 7, “consider what I say.” That’s a command. Think upon what I am saying. That ought to be the focal point of our mind, fill our mind with these thoughts. The Lord will give you understanding in everything. So you reflect upon what He’s saying. Oh yea, that’s part of the truth, that’s right, this is part of what God has called us to. As Paul told the Philippians, “it’s been given to you by God, not only to believe in Christ, but to suffer for His sake.” I say, oh yes, how gracious God has been in giving me the gift of salvation by faith in Christ. Often we say, and, God, with that has been gracious to give me the privilege of suffering for Him as well. Again, our suffering in this country becomes rather minimal, hurt feelings, loss of certain friendships, which are painful. Paul felt that. But not to the point of having to give our life.


Verse 8, “Remember Jesus Christ,” given as a command. You have to tell me to “remember Jesus Christ?” Well, if you’re not willing to suffer for him, you have forgotten key things about him that are foundational. Risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship. So if you’re looking for ways to get away from the hardship, go back and remember Jesus Christ. He’s the one this is all about. That’s why I’m in jail Paul says. He’s the reason I suffer hardship, even to imprisonment as a criminal. Was Paul a criminal? No. Did he undermine the Roman empire? No. Did he offend people with the gospel? Yes, where “the preaching of the cross is offensive to those who are perishing,” so trumped up charges as a criminal. “The word of God is not imprisoned.” The apostle Paul kept a clarity of vision. “The word of God is not imprisoned.” I’m in prison, woe is me, what’s going to happen to the church, how will the ministry go on? “The word of God is not imprisoned,” so he encourages Timothy and challenges him.

“For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen.” It’s an important verse in the ministry that we have. Paul saw his ministry as focus on the salvation of the elect. He recognized that not everybody was going to believe, but he didn’t know who the elect were, so he saw his ministry as bearing testimony for Jesus Christ, as suffering hardship for Jesus Christ, so that the elect would hear the gospel and by God’s grace believe it and be saved. “I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it eternal glory.” That’s what this ministry is about, the proclamation of God’s word so that the elect might come to salvation and so that those who come to salvation might be built to maturity in the body of Christ.


So our role in it is to be faithful in our testimony for Jesus Christ. It’s God’s work to draw the elect to salvation in Christ. That’s Paul’s picture. Why am I in prison? “I’m enduring all things for the sake of the elect,” those who God has chosen, that they might come to salvation. You share the gospel at work, with family, with those you come into contact with. Why? You want the elect to hear and believe. You’d long for everyone to be saved, but you know only the elect will, because of the stubborn rejection of the sinful heart, that they may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. Is that not worth the price, that men, women, and young people would come to salvation in Christ and obtain the eternal glory.

I mention this one who was killed today, and I know family members have shared the gospel with him on several occasions. Do you think they regret doing that today? No, you wouldn’t regret sharing the gospel with people. You who are here this evening, you can think of who shared the gospel with you. As I remember back, there were some little old ladies who shared the gospel with our family, who started God’s work of salvation. Those little old ladies, did they know? Here I am preaching the gospel today. I take it that rewards have accrued to them because of my ministry, because of their faithfulness back in this little town. They faithfully shared the gospel. People share the gospel. Who knows the impact of that in the eternal glory that results.


“It is a trustworthy statement” and this is given. It evidently was a hymn or some kind of passed on saying. “It is a trustworthy statement.” “If we died with him, we shall also live with him.” We have that confidence in our salvation, identified with Christ in His death and we are identified with Him in His life. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. They are identified with Christ in salvation, in His death, and in His life. You endure faithfully, you will reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will deny us. Strong warning here. And we all have questions if these people who abandoned Paul were they truly saved? I don’t know if we have enough information to sort it out. But those who deny Christ, will be denied by Christ. Christ said in Matthew, chapter l0, I believe it was, if you deny Me before men, I will deny you before My Father. If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. There are different ways this has been taken. I understand it to be talking about believers in the balance, if we are faithless, He is faithful. Not talking about if we don’t have faith, if we’re unbelievers, He will remain faithful to judge us, because it’s not talking about the faith that God has, it’s talking about God’s faithfulness. I take it He’s talking about our faithfulness and the idea, if we deny Him, He denies us. But that doesn’t mean that every lapse, if you will, results in eternal rejection. He is a faithful God who is unendingly faithful to us, and He will be faithful to the end.


Look over in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, verse l6, and this ties to what we saw at the end of chapter 1. “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me.” That is just amazing. The apostle Paul goes on trial for his life for the testimony of the gospel and everybody runs, everybody bails out. “May it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, the faithfulness of the Lord here.” “The Lord stood with me, the Lord strengthened me, in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth.” The Lord is sovereign, and “the Lord will deliver me and bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.” Ultimately, God’s faithfulness will result in Paul arriving at the appointed goal.

So we have a faithful God, even when we have been unfaithful, as Peter was in denying the Lord three times in the garden, but God was faithful, He restored him. We’re not saying that every time we fail as a believer, that we are in danger of having, you know, demonstrated we’re lost. But there’s a difference between denying Christ and our times of unfaithfulness. Paul will go on to remind them of these things, so this is not just truth for Timothy. I just want to put it in the context for us to encourage you.


We are blessed as a people. You have been faithful. Many of you have been here through battles and trials and conflicts. They’re not as great and severe and awful as others in church history and others in other places of the world, but we have to be faithful in the conflicts God brings us into. We talked about wanting to be a church that holds on to the word, that guards the word, that entrust it to others. We want to be prepared. That means we join in suffering for the gospel. We will suffer hardship. We will need the strength of the Lord to do it. That doesn’t mean we develop a martyr’s complex, doesn’t mean we don’t look and say well, perhaps we mishandled this and that would cause some of the problem but we don’t become so introspective, People are going to be looking for reasons to find fault, to criticize, and perhaps they can provide occasions when somebody is critical of the ministry or of people in the ministry here or me. I realize so many of you are put in that awkward position. Say well, there are many imperfections, but let’s talk about the truth that God has entrusted to us, rather than a defense of me or a defense of this church. What they really need to hear is the truth, and if they’re believers they should need to be encouraged, to be faithful to God in the context of God’s truth that has been entrusted to them. And if they’re in a church where the word of God is believed and taught, then don’t be overly concerned about Indian Hills. Devote yourself to that ministry to make it the strongest, most powerful testimony for Christ in this city. But I don’t want you to be discouraged and disappointed because there is so much criticism, perhaps, of this ministry or often negative comments.

I look at it and say, well, thank you, Lord, for the privilege we have to be identified with the truth. If people say you’re anti-homosexual, I don’t hate homosexuals, but I do believe the bible says homosexuality is sin, is an offense against a Holy God. Adultery is sin, it is an offense against a Holy God. Sex outside of marriage is sin, is an offense against a Holy God. I mean these things are biblical truths. I do not expect the world to understand or accept, but we must proclaim them, and in that people are offended. Not every religion is a way to God. Jesus Christ is the only way. He is the only mediator.


Well, where does that leave other religions? Out in the cold. Not as a way to heaven but as a way to hell. People find that offensive. We cannot help that. The truth we have is God, in love, has made provision for you, whatever your religion, whatever your background, to turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ and be born again and saved from your religion, an empty way of life.

This church is not the only church. I believe there are other people in the city who don’t attend Indian Hills who are on their way to heaven. I’m not near as narrow as some people think I am. But I don’t think there’s anyone in the city who’s going to heaven any other way than the way we preach, which is taught in the word of God. I believe those who are truly believers should be in churches where the word of God is believed and taught, and I trust we will stand for it and be satisfied with the consequences of it. We will take our losses. God will bring some to join us. You will lose friends. I trust you make new friends. I trust if everybody leaves you, you’ll be like Paul. Everyone deserted me, but the Lord didn’t.

So we are privileged to be called together. And it’s a good time to talk about it because as far as I know, there are no internal battles going on right now, so I have no agenda in talking about this. Just that we be prepared in our thinking and in our hearts and count it a privilege to be faithful, and I trust we will fan the flame, kindle afresh the gift of God that’s in us, that we might burn brightly for Christ in these days. Let’s pray together.


Thank you, Lord, for Your grace. Thank you for the salvation we have in Christ and Lord, it is sad for us to have to say that at times we are embarrassed about the testimony for Christ. At times we are reluctant because we are ashamed to open our mouths and speak the gospel to friends and family, to business acquaintances, to those who may not receive and be receptive. Lord, give us a sensitivity to each situation. Lord, give us a boldness on Your behalf. May we count it an honor to be identified with Christ, to be identified with the truth that is a revelation of Him, who is life for those who will believe. We praise You in His name, Amen.