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well good morning to everyone welcome back to free grace baptist church welcome to any visitors with us this morning it's a delight to have you with us if you're new if you're a new face in the pew it's always nice to have visitors with us here at free grace baptist church if you have any questions afterwards please feel free to approach us just before we get to worship a couple of announcements the first is that we have the annual general meeting Saturday februari 27th at seven pm we have that every year to satisfy particular regional demands of a Association gathering together so we'll have that annual general meeting Saturday februari 27th 7pm clarification by Steve that's that's anybody can attend correct that's anybody can attend so if you'd like to hear about the past year and finances and all of those sorts of good things feel free to attend again Saturday februari 27th 7 p.m. in the fellowship luncheon hall secondly we have a visiting preacher here today with us dr. James M renehan pastor renehan from Christ reformed baptist church in Vista California it's a delight to have him here with us he's also Dean and professor of historical theology at the Institute of reformed Baptists studies at Westminster California he just gave a good presentation on the seminary plans for the future so it's good now to have him here this morning and this evening to preach for us well let's begin our worship then if you could turn in your Bibles with me to Psalm 27 Book of Psalms Psalm 27 that will be our call to worship this morning Psalm 27 the word of the living and true God the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh my enemies in phos they stumbled and fell though an army may encamp against me my heart shall know fear though war may rise against me in this I will be confident one thing I have desired of the Lord that will I see that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the lord and to inquire in his temple for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret place of his tabernacle he shall hide me he shall set me high upon a rock and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tabernacle I will sing yes I will sing praises to the Lord here o Lord when I cry with my voice have mercy also upon me and answer me when you said seek my face my heart said to you your face lord I will see do not hide your face from me do not turn your servant away in anger you have been my help do not leave me nor forsake me oh god of my salvation when my father and my mother forsake me then the Lord will take care of me teach me your way o Lord and lead me in a smooth path because of my enemies do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against me and such as breathe out violence I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart wait I say on the Lord amen well let's stand together as a church we're going to sing our first him in your Trinity hymnal let's stand and sing 105 together that's 105 you please be seated well let's go to our great God in prayer let us pray our righteous and holy father we come to you now rejoicing that honor another lord's day Sabbath your Saints can gather together in this place and we do pray having gathered together in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ that you would bless this time of worship we do pray that your name would be hallowed in this place we pray that your your name would be praised that you would be rejoiced in and that the gathered assembly here would sing the praises of Amazing Grace we do pray that this would be the case not only here but around the world that you're gathered Saints would sing the praises of your name again that your name would be hallowed Lord God and we do pray that throughout the earth today our saving Lord the Lord Jesus Christ would be preached for many pulpits and we do pray that you would empower your ministers of the gospel to preach well the things of Christ and the saving gospel and that a multitude of sinners across the world today would be saved by your victorious grace we rejoice now in the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord we do thank you again that you did send him and the fullness of the times born of a woman and born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons we thank you for the perfect work of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ for truly we know that we are not saved by deeds of righteousness which we have done but rather Lord God were saved holy and alone by the perfect work of our Savior the Lord Jesus so we do rejoice in that we thank you for his life of obedience unto your law in the stead of all who believe for that perfect workup on Calvary's tree wherein he bore your wrath against the sins of all those who believe in his name we know that on Calvary we have no atonement of maybe but rather upon that accursed tree our Lord Jesus Christ perfected the salvation of all those whom you had given to him and we rejoice in that blessed a work of salvation we thank you Lord God that he rose again the third day in great power and in great victory that he has ascended to your right hand where does ever live to make intercession for his people and to rule and terrain and we thank you for these truths and we do pray that now you would impress them upon our hearts that we might all the more now in this special place in the special way it rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the saving gospel we do pray God that you would forgive us a fresh of our sins we know that we have forgiveness by the one shed blood of the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ we pray that you would wash us a fresh in that fountain that has been opened up for a sin and for uncleanness and that you would cause us to all the more by your grace and for your glory to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ we do pray God that you'd be with those who need prayer for many things we think of all those who are sick all those who are injured all those who are have diseases Lord God that you would help them you would come to their aid physically that you would tend to their bodies and knit together those wounds and we do pray that you would cause them to to know times of reprieve from physical pains and discomforts and Lord God that you would just watch over your dear ones and we do pray that in the midst of physical affliction these all would rejoice in you they would know the judge of all the earth does right and that they would be wholly abandoned done to your will in all things we do ask God that you be with those who have lost loved ones we think of many a couple families outside of this church Lord and those within we do pray that you would heal hearts you would cause those yes to grieve but not as the world but rather as those who have the hope of Christ and the hope of the promises of the gospel we do pray that they would find much comfort in your Holy Word we would ask God that you would be with the persecuted Church again that you would come swiftly to your Saints who are in the midst of such persecution around the world or such hatred and anger and many nations that we just know nothing of those who oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ and we do pray that you would come to the aid of our brothers and sisters in these nations that in the midst of their suffering at the hands of persecutors you would strengthen them that you would cause them to lay hold of that of their hope the hope of their calling without wavering that they would hold strongly upon the things of your word and the things of our Savior that they would even be able to as it were look away from the persecutions and look with eyes of faith upon the risen Christ and find their courage and their comfort in the King of Kings we do pray that you would deal with their persecutors as well we do pray that you would even save by the testimony by the the word by your spirit and word that you would save many who oppose our brothers and sisters in Christ that you would turn them from the madness of their idolatry end to the living and true God those who remain in opposition that you would take them out of the way those who will not bend a knee to the king of kings and Lord of lords that you would take them out of the way and cause them to stumble like drunken men that they may no longer bring violence against the Saints of Christ we would pray then Lord that you would also be with those who govern over us we pray that you would cause them to rule over us and righteousness justice and equity and take away those who would seek to propagate wickedness in the land we do pray now that you would be with us we pray that you'd be with Pastor renehan he comes up here to preach in a few moments we know that ministers of the gospel cannot lean upon their own strength but they do require that strength of the triune God affords and we do pray that he would know that in this pulpit you send your spirit Ministry of the Spirit to strengthen preacher to proclaim clearly and accurately your word and we do pray God that Saints would be edified and this gathered assembly here this morning that we would leave this place well equipped well instructed from on high concerning your word in our Christ and we do pray Lord that you would by your grace and for your glory save those who came in these two doors outside of Christ this morning would you cause them to leave singing the praises of our Blessed Christ we do pray that you would save this morning Lord God to the praise of your glorious grace and we pray that you would be with us now and might all that has done be done unto the praise of your name and we pray in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen well let's stand and sing together then our next team will be 268 if you'll stand with me and sing 268 let's stand and sing as a church Oh please be seated our new testament scripture reading that you can turn to is revelation 22 Revelation chapter 22 as we read consecutively through the New Testament we've now arrived at the end of the New Testament Revelation chapter 22 well read the entire chapter once again as Psalm 27 was this is the word of the living and true God and he showed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and of the lamb in the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life which bore 12 fruits each tree yielding its fruit every month the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations and there shall be no more curse but the throne of God end up the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve Him they shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads there shall be no night there they need no lamp nor light of the Sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever then he said to me these words are faithful and true and the Lord God of the holy prophet sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly take place behold I am coming quickly blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book now I John saw and heard these things and when I heard and saw I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things then he said to me see that you do not do that for I am your fellow servant and of your brethren the prophets and of those who keep the words of this book worship God and he said to me do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand he who is unjust let him be unjust still he who is filthy let him be filthy still he who is righteous let him be righteous still he who is holy let him be holy still and behold I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end the first and the last blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the city but outside our dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches I am the root and the offspring of David the bright and morning star and the spirit and the bride say come and let him who hears say come and let him who thirsts come whoever desires let him take the water of life freely for I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book if anyone adds to these things God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part from the book of life from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book he who testifies to these things says surely I am coming quickly amen even so come Lord Jesus the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all amen we'll just very briefly one observation we know full well as Christians when we come to the Word of God these things are certain verse 6 then he said to me these words are faithful and true so we come to the book of Revelation we should remark the reality about the reality of the two edged sword that protrudes from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ remember that two-edged sword cuts both ways at the point of these words are faithful and true for you Christian here this morning for all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we have the certainty of the words of God the certainty of the words of Christ resting upon his sure promises that all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved and the Blessed reality of looking at Christ Jesus face-to-face casting our eyes upon the king of kings and Lord of lords and rejoicing and singing with the heavenly host for eternity what a blessing to be I found having the forgiveness of sins in the Lord Jesus Christ and looking forward to everlasting life that life that we even now possess in this lower world looking forward to the greatness of it in Emmanuel's land but remember the other side of that sort the other side of that sword that does cut to the quick these words are faithful and true it is certain that if you fly the banner of anything that is not Christ that is not God if you are not found safely in him you are outside where the dogs and the sorcerer is in the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters are believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved the one who is infinite eternal and unchangeable and all of his glorious perfections gives us the certainty of his word that yes all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved praise God but all those who do not believe the wrath of God abides on you know that there is a holy God know that you have sinned against him but know that there is a blessed and perfect and saving Christ who came into this world to live a life of obedience in the place of all those who believe who died a perfect substitution ery sacrificial death upon Calvary's tree who rose again in power and great victory for the salvation of all those who believe in him you're here this morning pay close attention to preaching pay close attention when you are here in church listen to the word because it is sure in certain and we pray that you would leave these doors singing the praises of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your word from on high we rejoice in the book of Revelation and the testimony to the certainty of your word the reality of our ruling and reigning Christ and we do pray that you would cause us daily to rejoice as we see a world that can most certainly crumble around us at we see that seemed to be beset on all sides by wickedness and evil yet we know that Christ reigns of the nations of this world are the nations of our God and of his Christ and we do pray that you would cause us to rejoice rejoice in these things and we pray now Lord that you would strengthen your Saints by your spirit and word we pray Lord God that you would save sinners by that same spirit and word and that all might be done unto the praise of your glorious name we pray in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus amen our last team then before the preaching is in your Trinity hymnal again let's stand and sing for eighty-four together 484 you please be seated it's a delight to have pastor renehan with us a dear friend of a gym and I served with Jim on the via theology committee and as a dear brother so it's wonderful to have you here with us Jim please come preach the word to us good morning and greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ would you please turn in your Bibles to second Timothy chapter 2 2nd timothy chapter 2 while you're turning let me bring you greetings from our church Christ Reformed Baptist Church of Vista California but especially from Mike and Jessica Kirkpatrick we're really glad to have them with us they have been an enormous blessing as you might expect mike is a quality young man it seems that God God's hand is upon him and I have much hope for his usefulness in the future continue to pray for him and that God would keep him in the way that he would make him a holy man who understands the Word of God and an effective minister of the new covenant I know that you do pray for him I would ask you to continue to do so we're very encouraged by him and his love for the Lord Jesus his love for the church and his growth and grace and were encouraged by the two of them as a couple and the example that they set of Christian love well let's give our attention to the Word of God I want to especially emphasize the first few verses of chapter 2 but in order to do that I want to set a context that goes all the way back to the beginning of the Epistle so this is a fairly long reading I want to start in verse 1 of chapter one and i want to read down into verse Oh probably 13 of chapter to follow along and give attention to the Word of God Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus to Timothy my beloved child grace and mercy from God the Father and christ jesus our lord I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience as i remember you constantly in my prayers night and day as i remember your tears I long to see you that I may be filled with joy I am reminded of your sincere faith a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now i am sure dwells in you as well for this reason i remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying out of my hands for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord nur of me as prisoner but Sharon suffering for the gospel by the power of God 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 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher which is why I suffer as I do but I am not ashamed if I know who Maya believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guard the good deposit entrusted to you you are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me among whom are Pfizer ellis and her ma jani's made the lord grant mercy to the household of odessa for asst free often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains but when he arrived in rome he searched for me earnestly and found me may the lord grant him to find mercy from the lord on that day and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and Trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also share and suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules it is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops think over what I say for the Lord will give you understanding in everything remember Christ Jesus risen from the dead the offspring of David has preached in my gospel for which I am suffering bound with chains as a criminal but the Word of God is not bound 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 the saying is trustworthy for if we have died with him we will also live with him if we endure we will also reign with him if we deny him he also will deny us if we are faithless he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself may God's blessing beyond this reading from his most holy word let's pray together o Lord our God you have already fed us through the reading of your word we look forward to the eternal Kingdom where righteousness will dwell forever where evil will be put away and yet you've called us to live in this world now you have given to us your word to be a light to our pathway a lamp to our feet and we ask you now as we come to study it more closely that you'll send your spirit to us that he may assist us give me grace that I may be able accurately and faithfully to open your word keep me in the way don't allow me to stray to either side of the path but help this declaration to be faithful to what is revealed and give to us all ears to hear and change our will so that we might obey your word and do what you call us to do bless us in this time you have been faithful in the past you promise that you will come upon your word and give grace to your people we ask you simply to do what you have promised to do and what you are faithfully given to us in the past we ask these things through our mediator our Lord Jesus Christ amen at the united states military academy in West Point New York there are many interesting shins perhaps one of the most interesting is the use of the phrase the long gray line these words refer to the graduates of West Point who traditionally wearing gray uniforms have proceeded from the Academy for over two centuries one imagines a chain of soldiers stretching backwards into the past growing annually into in the present and even increasing in the future such names as Pershing and Jackson and patent and Lee an Eisenhower and mark MacArthur and Schwarzkopf and Aldrin are only a few of the notable members of this great tradition it stands firm and when General Douglas MacArthur made his farewell speech at West Point on May the 12th 1962 he said these stirring words the long gray line has never failed us were you to do so a million ghosts dressed in all of drab and brown khaki in blue and gray would rise up from their white crosses thundering these magic words duty honor country and even more so fifty years later were moved by the eloquence of these words and reminded of the wonderful notion of traditions such as the long gray line well in some ways we may say that the Apostle Paul envisioned something similar and yet much more grand and much more important looking backwards he could see a long line of predecessors who believed what he believed and sought to live as he lived serving God day and night and Paul was able to look into the future as well and as he looked into the future he saw there more and more followers who were committed to the same truths seeking holiness for themselves and others this is not Paul's long gray line this is what I'm calling Paul's long crimson line servants who were purchased by the blood of the Lamb of God who were working to extend this line forward willing even to shed their own blood for the sake of the cause to which they were committed and this is what I hope to draw out from the text of scripture that has been read to us seeking to hear the voice of our Savior speaking to us applying the truths here to our own lives so that's where we're going especially as Paul lays this out for us at the beginning of chapter 2 let's notice just a couple of these verses again Paul says you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and Trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also Paul here gives 2 Timothy a very specific charge and that charge has to do with the continuation of the gospel ministry with seeing men raised up who will be able to go forward planting churches calling others to repentance and faith and our Lord Jesus and strengthening disciples who are professed their faith in Jesus Christ now in order really to open up this text we need to look into the context and we might begin by asking the question what are the things that Timothy has heard from Paul notice he tells him what you have heard from me and Trust to others well it's only fair for us to ask the question what are the things that Timothy has heard from Paul and in the context in chapter 1 Paul provides for us a detailed statement of these things this is the foundational claim that Paul makes and he speaks here of the gospel as the basis for everything else that happened as Paul writes to his friend and son in the faith Timothy a man who has proven himself faithful and steadfast through many years was proven himself to be a good servant of Jesus Christ paul also recognizes that Timothy is a man who struggles sometimes with fears and with anxiety and with weakness and Paul writes to Timothy to encourage him to press on in his work Timothy I'm sure knows that Paul is in Chains in Rome Timothy himself may face such matters of endurance but Paul wants to help him to press on but also to make preparation for the future of the work that Timothy must do it must be carried forward it must be expanded even after Paul and Timothy rust together in heaven and the reason that this is so important is simple because it is about the gospel now notice what Paul says in chapter 1 the first and most important thing we need to notice in preparation for our text is that the source of the gospel is God Paul points Timothy to heaven and he wants him to think about heaven and that all of the blessings that he has received Timothy as a man who has been saved by the blood of Christ comes to us because of the initial work of God look at verse 9 of chapter 1 as Paul tells Timothy not to be ashamed but to suffer he reminds him that he has been saved and called to a holy calling by God himself it is divine action that is placed Timothy in the circumstances in which he finds himself a man who professes faith in Christ and a man with the responsibility of preaching this gospel to others perhaps Paul wants Timothy to meditate on this action of salvation maybe he wants Timothy to think about what he was in the past what does it mean when Paul says he saved us Paul here brings to mind the fact that we were the enemies of God by birth inheriting Adam sinned and by choice by our own actions by our own decision by pursuing our own ways by satisfying the desires of our hearts with the idols of our hearts by raising our fists up to heaven by seeking satisfaction for all of the lusts that are within ourselves we are people who are characterized through and through by sin and in dire straits and God in His mercy looked down on Timothy and he looks down on us and he saves us he does this by sending his holy son Timothy God saved us not by our own actions not by our law keeping not by our heritage or ethnicity God saved us not because we cooperated with grace that was given to us but God saved us by grace by sending his son the eternal God the second person of the Holy Trinity the one who created the heavens and the earth and rules over them took upon himself human flesh was born of a virgin lived a life of holy obedience saw the cross before him and gladly freely went to that cross and thereand or the wrath of God on behalf of his people he was buried by the hands of men who up to that point had been secret disciples on the first day of the week he rose from the dead he has ascended into heaven he now sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us this one took our place and endured God's wrath and what Paul tells Timothy he saved us wants Timothy to be reminded of the fact that we were the criminals do the penalty of death and Jesus Christ took our punishment so that it's all of God all the free grace all of mercy and all of love and this God who saves us calls us to a whole ISA holy calling gracious salvation leads to a life of thankful obedience to him the more that we recognize what he has done the great and majestic gifts of grace that have come to us we desire to walk in newness of life now you know you've read Paul's epistles this is a frequent theme repeated over and over again for us he calls us to live a life of Christ's likeness he calls us to encourage Christ's likeness and others and here in this text as he's moving forward and teaching Timothy about what he must tell others he wants to ensure that this call to Christlikeness continues in the future but all of it comes back to the work of God God planned God accomplished God applies that salvation and so when Timothy would say to when Paul would say to Timothy what you've heard from me he wants to begin with God now not only is God the one who has saved Timothy God is also the one who has been at work in the spread of the gospel God is the one who actively participates who actively moves in the spread of the gospel we need to notice the variety of terms that Paul uses in chapter 1 and in chapter 2 there's actually many ways that he phrases himself in verse 8 of chapter 1 he tells Timothy not to be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord those words that speak about what Christ has done what we've just tried to describe and verses 12 and 14 he calls this the deposit this body of truth that has been given to Timothy which Timothy is to pass on in verse 13 of chapter 1 he calls it the pattern of sound words by this he refers to all of the doctrines that are taught in the Word of God in Scripture in verse 2 of chapter 2 he calls this the things that you have heard and we need to remember what Paul said in Romans 10 17 faith comes by hearing when Paul uses this language to speak to Timothy the things that you've heard pass on to others it is the faith that has come as the Word of God has been proclaimed to him in verse 8 of chapter 2 Paul refers to it as the things that have been preached and in verse 9 he calls it the Word of God well all of this variety of terminology refers to the gospel of Jesus Christ the actions of God in saving people are declared so that the elect might hear and understand and Paul as Timothy as he's preparing to tell them at Timothy what to pass on he wants Paul Timothy to think backwards and he wants Timothy to think for words it's like the long gray line now notice the past Paul begins in verse 3 of chapter 1 by speaking about his ancestors he's in a line of people now this could refer specifically to his own family more probably it refers to the godly Jews who preceded him and I'm not going to quibble over the interpretation of what he means but he looks back into the past and he sees believers in the Old Testament era and perhaps immediately preceding and he recognized that recognizes that god's word came to them but it's not just Paul it's also Timothy it's interesting that Paul and verse 5 of chapter 1 emphasizes the godliness that has been present in Timothy's family not in his father who was a Gentile but in his mother and in his grandmother Lois and Eunice look at verse 5 i'm reminded of your sincere faith a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother lois and your mother Eunice and now i am sure dwells in you as well these women were very close to Timothy and Paul is able to remind his friend his brother his son in the Lord how these women who were so close to him lived for the glory of God you see how Paul here is emphasizing the past not something new that has taken place with Timothy and with Paul but they are in a line of those who before them have confessed the gospel and believed found salvation and forgiveness by their faith in the gospel that God reveals in the old and in the New Testament now also Paul looks around in the present circumstances and he very briefly describes the contemporaries who have also come to faith in the Lord Jesus in verse 1 of chapter 3 he describes himself I thank God whom I serve now that's a statement that Timothy you're not alone I serve along with you and God has given this salvation to me in chapter 1 verse 6 he speaks about the laying on hands an event that he also mentions in the First Epistle to Timothy it's a statement about his ordination in fact in chapter 2 and verse to our text for this morning the things that you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses there are others who have been present when Paul has spoken to Timothy in verse 16 of chapter 1 he speaks about a man named anessa forus who has had a good testimony and who served well for Paul when Paul was in Rome he earnestly sought after Paul and found him and Paul implores the Lord to send blessings upon anessa forests Paul wants Timothy to realize that as he presses forward even though he may be full of weakness and fear there are others around him those who have gone before those who are around him he's their part of a contemporary group purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and prepared to move forward into the future now the reality is that some have failed and sadly in verse 15 he speaks about these men by jealous and her ma jani's who have gone the way of the world you know I've departed from their confession of the pass of the gospel this is really only a passing reality check in Paul's argument but it's there and we need to acknowledge it these perhaps are not faithful witnesses and they're not faithful men Paul's main concern is to encourage Timothy to think about the gospel and its spread and so the things that Timothy is to pass on to others the things that Timothy has heard from Paul is really the gospel in all of its fullness all of the doctrine that is recorded for us in holy scripture Timothy take these things and pass them on now there's another perspective that needs to be noticed as we work our way through this passage we must notice how Paul describes the ongoing spread of this gospel and just as the gospel itself is the work of God so also is the spread of the gospel in fact we must say that there's an introd intimate correlation between the gospel itself and its expansion in the world or to say this simply God saves us through Christ and God spreads the message of that salvation through his messengers in many ways that's the main point that Paul is making now usually when we come to 2nd Timothy 2 1 through 7 we separate these verses out from their context and I think that that's a mistake chapter and verse divisions as we have in front of us are fairly recent inventions and they help us to find our place more easily they've come since we've been able to have movable type and the Bible has been printed in a way that the average person is able to have a copy of it but they weren't there when Paul wrote and sometimes they obscure important important contextual connections that the Apostle makes and that's the case here in fact in order to understand them properly we must observe the flow of thought as Paul writes because this flow has everything to do with the command that is given to Timothy now we've noticed that the gospel as an act of God is central to this passage but so also is the spread of the gospel as first and foremost an act of god and i want you to notice with me the thought now there's there's a five-step process that paul presents to us here by which the gospel is to spread the first thing that we notice is that the gospel given to paul originates in heaven now i want you to have a mental chart in your mind's all right i want to help you to think through this so start on the top line with the word heaven and then put a downward facing arrow from the word heaven and on the next line put the Apostle Paul all right so we have heaven to Paul that's the first and the second step in this fivefold process Paul says that his gospel originates in heaven notice verses 11 and 12 of chapter 1 he speaks about immortality to light through the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher which is why I suffer as I do but I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me God is able to guard what has been entrusted to me the gospel is not of Paul's origination it's not something that was found by searching it wasn't a fortuitous discovery that Paul happened to come upon like finding a golden ring deep under the the the mountains but rather it was given to Paul by divine appointment the message and the office of being a preacher and a herald a teacher was given to Paul his right to be an apostle and the message that he preaches as an apostle comes to Paul from heaven in this way Paul's entry into the long crimson line is not based on his own words but rather it's based on divine grace God from heaven determined that he would give this to Paul of course we all know that Paul was an opponent of the gospel he was perhaps one of the fiercest opponents of the early church and yet Christ met him and gave him repentance and gave him faith and opened his eyes and he became what was perhaps the greatest advocate of the gospel in the first century all of this comes from heaven Paul recognizes this and this is the first link it comes from heaven and it goes to Paul but it is this gospel that originates from heaven that then is passed on and there's a third line in our chart from heaven downward arrow to Paul another downward arrow to timothy paul wants to emphasize that the same thing that originates in heaven and was given to him is that which then is given to timothy as well notice verse 14 of chapter one and notice verse 2 of chapter 2 using the identical language that he has just used about himself he says by the Holy Spirit who dwell within us guard the good deposit and trusted to you and then our verse verse 2 of chapter 2 what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and Trust to faithful men you see the idea here in heaven God has the gospel from eternity he has determined that he will save sinners through His Son Jesus Christ and he opens Paul's eyes and Paul receives this Paul believes it and Paul begins to spread this message but Paul recognizes that he has to give it to others as well and so in this case he described the giving of it the entrusting of that deposit to Timothy his son in the faith the deposit that is given to Paul is the same deposit that is given to heaven it's the gospel it's the body of doctrine that is contained in scripture proclaimed and taught by the Apostle handed over to Timothy and Timothy is charged with proclaiming it and teaching in so that Paul is able to know wherever Timothy goes wherever Timothy stands in front of people the words that come out of his mouth will be the words of the gospel it will be the words of Scripture it will be the words of this wonderful doctrine not Timothy's innovative ideas not as personal convictions but the same identical pattern of words we could speak at length here about confession ilysm because that's exactly what Paul is describing in this place the body of doctrine that has come from heaven and been given to me give it pass it on to others so you see now our chain has three steps from heaven to Paul to Timothy but you can look at the text and understand that there are two more steps two steps that we need to mention Timothy is to take this gospel this pattern of sound words this full-blown set of Christian doctrine and Timothy is to pass the gospel on to faithful men the extension of the gospel the the generational movement of the gospel is not something that is to cease with Timothy but he must entrust it to faithful men also men who believe men who live according to the gospel men to be trusted because they are trustworthy men who will follow Paul and Timothy and carry on the work into the next generation so as you would expect there's a fourth line that we add to our little mental chart here heaven downward arrow Paul downward arrow Timothy downward arrow faithful men that's what Paul is saying you see and it goes all the way back to eternity this is God's eternal purpose to save sinners by the gospel through faithful men but it doesn't stop there because there's a fifth stage as well you already know what it is these faithful men who are trained by Timothy who receive the same doctrine that Timothy received from Paul which is the same doctrine that Paul received from heaven these faithful men must keep the chain going by passing on the body of doctrine to others the next generation of Timothy's of faithful men and here's the fifth line in our chart from heaven downward arrow to Paul downward arrow 2 Timothy downward arrow to faithful men downward arrow to others who will also be able to teach and by implication the downward arrows keep going generation by generation by generation it is the task and responsibility of faithful men to teach and prepare others and this is the long crimson line you see for us it stretches all the way back to Pauls ancestors those faithful believers of the Old Testament era but it also stretches ahead to other faithful men and Paul here says it is the work of God here's the fivefold chain God to Paul to Timothy to faithful men to other faithful men etc etc etc until Christ returns this is the command that the Apostle gives 2 Timothy and this is the command that Paul gives to us now the question that we have to ask is then what are we supposed to do well the third thing that we can emphasize is the faithful continuation of this line as the chain extends backwards to the beginning of the Old Testament and as Paul could describe its present expansion through his and Timothy's ministry so also does he envisioned its advance into the future and this comes by way of the command that he gives to us in verses 2 1 and 2 of chapter 2 though this is addressed to Timothy and it ought to be understood in terms of its own context it clearly speaks to each and every generation of Christians including ourselves so that in this text Paul teaches us you and me to be involved in entrusting the gospel in all of its beauty to faithful men who will teach others after them and so on until the Lord Jesus returns from heaven and we have the privilege of entering into that eternal state described to us in Revelation chapter 22 now we must be careful because this is actually a very specific task Paul does not say here that every believer must directly and personally train those of the coming generation let's look at verses 1 and 2 again you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and Trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also Paul who describes himself as a preacher and an apostle and a teacher is the one who taught Timothy and Timothy then teaches the faithful man and then they train other faithful men the preparation of the next generation of ministers is very specifically a ministerial task those of us who are gospel ministers are addressed here commanded by this text to do our part in preparing men but this does not mean that you who are not Minister others are exempt from participating in this task well what I'm about to say is your responsibility is to aid us in preparing men to serve in the next generation now notice what Paul says verse 1 of chapter 2 he says this task is accomplished by grace you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus as Timothy thinks about the task that is given to him he must recognize that his source of strength is the grace of God and so once again we return to the idea of God's action and God's initiative Paul does not say to Timothy be strong in yourself but be strong in grace what is grace grace is the blessings that come to us purchased by Jesus Christ our mediator died to satisfy the wrath of God and he grants to us from the riches of God's bounty grace that we might come to faith in that we might live by faith Timothy this is the source of your strength there must be an infusion of grace to accomplish the training when you stand in front of others to call them to salvation there must be an infusion of grace to teach them about growth and holiness and gifts and to deepen their understanding of the things of God there must be an outpouring of grace you know I wonder as I read these words knowing what I know about Timothy from all of the places that he's mentioned in the New Testament I where he's described as weak and fearful I really identify with Timothy he was a he was not a hero he was a real person knowing what we know about him I wonder did Timothy tend to shrink back from the enormity of the task that Paul lays upon him well maybe that's the case but this context is an encouragement to him to press on not in his own strength but in the strength of the grace of God and so we must start with grace when we think about men we must pray for God's blessing we must pray for continued conformity to the image of Christ unwavering commitment to the pattern of sound words because brother and says sisters without grace we are nothing divine strength is true strength so we begin with grace but also by God's grace we must take steps to promote and continue the long crimson line this is simply obedience to the command of Scripture now here is a problem that we face and this problem is made worth worse by the culture that is around us our generation is a generation that lives for now the present moment is the most important moment we want results we want enjoyment we want relief immediately we don't save for retirement because it's too far in the future and when we get there we have very little we're satisfied with momentary pleasure rather than waiting for that which is better we're like the toddler who's given a piece of chocolate do you ever you ever look on youtube for this they put a toddler in there with a piece of chocolate they say if you wait five minutes I'll give you five pieces you know what happens every single time the toddler can't wait five minutes but eats that piece of chocolate not recognizing that if he or she waits a little bit longer the reward will be far greater we're just like that we go for that which is easy which is present which is pleasurable to us now and this affects our Christian lives as well we don't plan we don't prepare we don't take steps for the future and yet we must in the same way that Abraham took fire wood to burn the sacrifice on Mount Moriah so we must gather our firewood and preparation so I start asking questions like this who will take the place of retiring pastors because many of us are getting older and we see the end of the road in front of us who will go out and plant new churches who can we send to serve overseas or the question that I asked in the previous hour will be the pastor to your grandchildren when they get older when they grow up and they come to middle age will be their pastors that's a question that we ought to ask a question that we ought to seek to answer by the grace of God you see if we take Paul's words seriously now is the time to prepare for the future and do what Paul did by thinking generationally we must put down a solid foundation for our children and our grandchildren so that they will see even more of the blessings of God than we do and this means this involves a great deal of hard work there are several things that we need to be doing number one we need to identify men who will be faithful I'll talk about that in just a few minutes but that's that ought to be a key part of our identities as churches we ought to be praying that God would raise up faithful men from our midst he's already done that in your midst let's pray for more secondly we need to train these men train them in the knowledge of Scripture train them in the use of their gifts train them in preaching the gospel train them in understanding the culture that is around them the culture that is getting worse by the day so that they can go out and preach the freedom and forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ and then we must send them out to churches and two cities and to town just places without gospel witness because those men will be the next members of the long crimson line now look at verses 3 through 7 of chapter 2 these are illustrations that Paul uses to make his point share and suffering is a good soldier in Christ Jesus no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him second illustration an athlete is not crowned and Lessing competes according to the rules third illustration is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops and then Paul says think over what I say for the Lord will give you understanding in everything meditate on these things soldiers trained athletes farmers Paul uses three illustrations of people who are devoted to their cause and his point is ministers must be like them see ministers must be like the soldiers who snapped to attention when the commanding officer comes into the room and when the commanding officer says jump the soldier says how high they must be like the athlete who wants to wear that crown that golden crown around the head and compete according to the rules not to be disqualified afterwards because of using performance-enhancing drugs and like the farmer who has worked hard through the hot hot summer heat and when the harvest time comes has the blessing of enjoying the first fruits of his labor he's been devoted to that because he knows that's the survival of his family of his children those crops that will come forth from the ground think about these things Timothy do your job and prepare others to do so as well now how is it that all of us as Christians can participate in this that's a good question though the text rightly places emphasis on ministers as the men directly carrying out this task still everyone has a role to play let me give you a couple of suggestions as to the role that everyone can pray the first and most important is prayer in verse in verse 1 of chapter 2 Paul says be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus prayer is a means of grace prayer is calling on God to fulfill the promises that he makes in his word and he is faithful he tells us that when we bring to him his promises he will hear and he will answer them here in this text he promises that by grace there will be men and so I urge you to pray pray that God will raise up more men men to be the next generation of pastors men to plant churches men to give themselves to foreign service pray so I ask you directly will you pray for us as we consider what the future is to be in the last hour I laid out the plans that we hope to develop our work into a full-blown seminary with a faculty and an administration that is able to train men according to our understanding of the word of God will you pray for us because all human plans all money that is spent all time that is given without God's blessing is absolutely worthless so first and foremost above all things we need you to pray please pray pray for God's blessing will you pray for us in this monumental task that is before us sometimes I identify with what Paul tells to tells Timothy because I feel the weakness of my own soul and I'm astounded by what we are trying to do I'm greatly fearful and I think it would be much easier to head off into retirement in another way than this but I believe that God has called me to do it but I need your prayers we all need your prayers to press ahead the second thing that you can do is identify men look at verse 2 what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and Trust to faithful men how is someone designated a faithful man that's an interesting question to ask of the text who are you talking about Paul how do we know if someone is a faithful man well if we think carefully about this and we compare Scripture with Scripture the the only answer of the right answer that we can give is we know that a man is a faithful man by his reputation among God's people in first Timothy 3 and in Titus chapter 1 we have qualifications that are given to us for men who would serve in the office of elder these texts make it clear for us what a faithful man is he's a man who lives according to the Word of God who lives a holy life who has some gifts and abilities that may be useful in the service of the church and so as you pray a I would urge you to look around look around notice the men do they show some understanding of the scriptures is their genuine evidence of increasing godliness in their lives do they happily and humbly serve Christ and His people even when not asked keep your eyes open for men and if you see such men go and talk to your pastors and ask them what they think what their opinions are of these men thirdly encourage men if the Lord raises up men in your midst urge the right men to consider the gospel ministry think about Louis and Eunice here in this text Paul is able to identify their sincere faith which was a model for Timothy to follow even as a gospel minister he calls Timothy to meditate on his mother and his grandmother and what their faith was like one wonders I wonder did Louis and Eunice ever speak to Timothy about serving the Lord Jesus as they saw growth and grace in him it wouldn't surprise me you know I think dads and moms we ought to be thinking about our sons not to force them into gospel ministry but as you pray for them it may be that some of your sons in your own family would consider the gospel ministry i sat down with my sons during their teenage years and I asked them the question have you ever considered the gospel ministry two of them have gone into the gospel ministry in the third he's doing what God has called him to do he's a software engineer I'm very proud of him very pleased with what the Lord has done in his life he didn't call him into the gospel ministry but I tried to help them along and I think dads and moms need to do that I I gave a presentation at a church in the Midwest a couple of years ago similar to what i did in the the sunday school hour and a young lady came up to me and she said my son is a toddler I hope if he grows up and God calls him into the ministry and he'll come study at our seminary and I thought man that's fantastic she's already thing maybe she's thinking like Hannah did when she devoted Samuel to the service of the Lord we need to do that as parents do you ever consider the gospel ministry for your own children that one day perhaps God would call them into the ministry brothers and sisters I urge you to go to your pastors to seek their advice about men but we need to cultivate more to go into service will you make this a part of your commitment to the long crimson line to the next generation that you'll help your pastors identify men to be raised up to the gospel ministry they know what they're doing if they if they say well we're not convinced or we think that that brother we need to wait then listen to them but if they if they say you know we've been thinking the same thing you've just confirmed to them what they've been thinking and that's a help to them so so think in these lines and then lastly fourthly what can you do well you can support the cause if you are present in the last hour you heard me say as we look into the future we hope to have a place where we can train our men we hope to build a seminary to support fully the work of our association of churches what we have now is very very good but what we might do could be even more useful to our churches but be very honest with you we need help and one of the ways that we need help is we need people to give us money to support our work your pastors have put some envelopes back there next to the offering box if you'd like to consider helping us train men to be the pastures of your grandchildren if you'd like to help implement this command of the Apostle Paul in second Timothy chapter one take one of those envelopes think about what you might do or come and talk to me and asked me what you might do we have a big challenge in front of us but we have a greater God than the challenge that is in front of us and many with whom we've consulted have said that if God blesses you should be able to do this but we need everybody to help us in whatever way each can do so we have a command of the Word of God to train faithful men so that they will be able to train others and so I ask you will you help us you see there is much that you can do and we need your help so that by God's grace this long crimson line will continue into the future when we're in heaven with Christ I hope that there will still be men standing up and preaching the things that you hear every Lord's Day in this pulpit and I hope that there will be many many more in many places in order for that to happen we need to take steps now may God help us by His grace to God alone be glory let's pray O Lord we are utterly dependent upon you you have given to us abundant gifts in the gospel of Jesus Christ the forgiveness of sins all that we deserved was your wrath and yet you sent your son to endure wrath on our behalf you have freely forgiven you have made us grow and our love for Christ and our understanding of the word we longed to see your kingdom extended to other places would you help us to begin to lay down the foundation now Lord if you wanted to you could give us instant growth but that generally is not the way that you have worked among your people you've called us to be faithful in doing what we ought to do and to trust you to give the increase help us write these words on our hearts and glorify yourself in the next generations we pray in Jesus name Amen let's all stand together if you know the doxology you can sing it by heart if you don't know it you can turn in to roman numeral 16 but let's all stand and sing the doxology together now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen please be seated we'll have a brief time of Prayer when the piano has finished you are free to go you