The Life of Faith is a Life of Endurance

Transcript

GRM 1210
1/13/19
The Life of Faith Is a Life of Endurance
Hebrews 10; 2 Timothy 1, 4
Gil Rugh


We've completed our study of the book of Revelation, for those of you who are here regularly at Indian Hills on Sunday morning, and I thought at the beginning of the New Year it would be good for us to remind ourselves that the Christian life is a life of endurance. We ended the book of Revelation looking at the glorious kingdom in which we will share in the future, the New Jerusalem on the new earth in the city that has streets of gold, and we will be privileged to live and serve in the presence of God for eternity. But we live with the reality of today and it is good to remind ourselves that what is required for us in the day in which we live is endurance.

So I want to talk a little bit about that subject today, and we'll look at Hebrews 10 as the basis for what we are going to see in Scripture. Several years ago we looked in Hebrews and did the whole book together, a rich book talking about the superiority of Jesus Christ. The key word in the book of Hebrews is the word better, because Jesus Christ, His ministry, His sacrifice, is better. Better than the angels, better than Moses and the Mosaic Law, better than the high priestly ministry carried out by the descendants of Aaron, and that forms the basis of the main portion of the book. Hebrews 10:4, as we come to a break in the book we are told, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” So as the Old Testament anticipated, God would prepare a body for His Son, Jesus Christ. He would be born into the human race, be the God/Man, and His own body would be the sacrifice for sin.

Hebrews 10:10, “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Then the reminder of the contrast that he has unfolded, the emphasis on the superiority of the high priestly ministry of Chris, which went from Hebrews 5:1 and it will go down through Hebrews 10:18, because that's the heart of it all. There has to be a high priest. In Israel it was a descendant of Aaron, but that was only a preparation time. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. So verse 11 says, “Every priest stands ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sin.” It took something more than the sacrifice of animals. And so verse 12, “But He,” referring to Christ, “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God.” The work of redemption was accomplished. He offered the one and only sacrifice that could ever be offered, the sacrifice of Himself, His own body on the cross. Verse 14, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified,” set apart by God through faith in Christ, having experienced the cleansing provision, having their sins forgiven completely and finally. So down in verse 18, verse 17 talks about “their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things there is no longer the offering for sin.” So the Mosaic system served to prepare for the coming of Christ, it reminded the Jews that there was a necessary sacrifice that had to be offered. But animals couldn't do it, the high priest, a descendant of Aaron, couldn't do it, couldn't offer the sacrifice that could fully and finally pay the penalty for sin. It took God's own Son. And that's what the book of Hebrews has emphasized up to this point—Christ is a high priest after a new order, the order of Melchizedek. All attempts to pattern ourselves after the Mosaic system are futile and worthless. Christ is the High Priest, He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, there are no other sacrifices. When we place our faith in Him, the sacrifice He made is applied to our account, to us personally. And do you know what amazingly happens? We become priests.

In the Old Testament there was God, then there was the high priest in Israel, and then there were the other priests that served under the high priest, offering sacrifices daily, and then the people. Though the people would bring their sacrifice to the priest, and the priest would offer it and it was accepted on the basis of the fact the high priest had offered the one sacrifice in the presence of God annually, representing the nation. That provided for the acceptance of the other sacrifices through the year. Now Christ has died, He is a priest after a different order, the order of Melchizedek. He has provided the once-for-all sacrifice. There are no other sacrifices that can be offered, be made. The sacrifice of Christ cannot be repeated, it is once-for-all done. He has taken His seat.

“Therefore,” verse 19, and that's the break. Up through Hebrews 10:18 we have had the unfolding of the doctrine of the truth of the superiority of Jesus Christ, and the necessity of God becoming man so He could be the High Priest and offer the sacrifice of His own body that alone could pay the penalty for our sins. Now with verse 19 he will say therefore, and as Paul's letters, for those of you who have studied the New Testament letters, Paul often begins his letters. The opening portion of the letter lays the doctrinal foundation, the teaching that is foundational to know and understand. Then he'll say in the last part of the letter, here is how you must live in light of that truth. That's what the writer of the Hebrews is doing. Through Hebrews 10:18 he has laid the foundational truth of the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ the God/Man and the sacrifice He has made. And those who believe in Him have experienced cleansing and forgiveness and have been made priests to serve in the presence of God under the High Priest, Jesus Christ. So there is no order of priests between the believer and God. There is one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, as Paul wrote to Timothy. One Mediator. There aren't priests down here. We have systems that promote that, they are corrupt, they are unbiblical.

Note what he says in verse 19, “Therefore, brethren,” he is writing to Jews who have become believers in Jesus Christ, they are brethren, fellow Christians. “Since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is His flesh.” He is back in the Old Testament system, the picture. Remember that inner sanctuary in the temple area had an outer area, the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. There was the curtain, the veil, and no priest went behind that veil except the High Priest once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. Through the year, every day, there were sacrifices being offered, but that one sacrifice and the blood of that sacrifice. But now that curtain has been opened. Remember when Christ died on the cross, that veil was torn in two, indicating now access will be provided. So we can come with confidence and enter the Holy Place, based on the sacrifice of Christ.
Now not just anyone can come into the presence of Almighty God, you can only come into His presence based on an acceptable sacrifice. It is not your good works, it's not your baptism, it's not any of these other things. It is the finality of the death of Christ on the cross to pay in full the penalty for our sin. And that alone does not mean you can come now, you have to have placed your faith in Christ and the sacrifice He made to experience the cleansing that He provided. When that has happened, you become part of God's family, one of the brethren as is identified here. And you can come with confidence into the very presence of God. You don't need me to be the one to go to God on your behalf. We can pray for one another, but you can come directly to God with your request, with your prayers, with your desires. Verse 21, “Since we have a great High Priest over the house of God.” Now we have this great High Priest, here is what we are to do, and there are three things here. “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,” as those who have been cleansed from the defilement of our sin. There are not other priests representing us, we come with full assurance of faith. I have believed in Jesus Christ as the One who loved me and died for me, and I come before the throne of Almighty God with full confidence, with full assurance, that I am accepted by Him because of the sacrifice Christ has made that has been applied to me.

Secondly he says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” This becomes key to where we are going in Hebrews in our endurance, hold fast the confidence of our hope, what God has promised for us. If we are not careful the passing of time dims our perspective on that hope. We hold it fast without wavering. Why? “For He who promised is faithful.” Can God fail? He keeps His Word. He has given us hope, He has promised us that someday we will enjoy the glory of His presence, the glory of what He unfolded in those closing chapters of the book of Revelation, the blessing of enjoying Him and glory of His presence forever.

“Let us consider,” that's the third exhortation here, “how to stimulate,” provoke, “one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some. But encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” We live in anticipation and expectation of the return of Jesus Christ, so every day brings us nearer. And so as we get together as believers in our fellowship and serving God together, we want to encourage one another. This word to stimulate, to provoke, sometimes can be used negatively when someone is provoking us, irritating us. You might tell your children, don't provoke me, if they are doing something they shouldn't repeatedly. Here it is used in a good sense. We shouldn't be provoking one another negatively, we should be provoking one another positively, to love and good deeds. Our involvement with one another ought to be a stimulus to strengthen our love, to strengthen our desire to do the will of God. And all in anticipation of the day that is drawing near.

There is a warning in verses 26-31, one of a series of warning passages in Hebrews. “If you go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” What that verse is simply saying is if you continue to refuse to believe in Jesus Christ, there is no other way for you to be saved. This is not one of many ways, there is only one sacrifice acceptable before the throne of God as payment for your sin and that's the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. If you persist in rejecting Him, refusing to believe in Him as your Savior, there is no longer a sacrifice acceptable for you. You will pay the penalty for your sin. We saw that at the end of the book of Revelation, where people are cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone forever and ever, into the ages of the ages. You have to pay your own penalty, there is no other sacrifice acceptable. That's the strong warning.

And it is a personal thing with a personal God. Look at verse 29, those who rejected what God said under Moses had to suffer the penalty. Look at verse 29, “How much more severe punishment do you think he would deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, has insulted the Spirit of grace.” You have offended the holy God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You have treated Him with disdain, you have said He is nothing to you, and judgment will be severe. Now the danger is, you might think he thinks these people aren't believers. He is confident they are for the most part. It's just like when I talk to you, most of you have probably placed your faith in Jesus Christ, but the reality is some of you may not have. Some of you may have attended here for a long time, grown up here, but have never personally trusted Christ as your Savior.

So that's the warning he gives. Just sitting and hearing, being exposed to truth, does not save you. It's only when you believe that the power of God brings the fullness of forgiveness and makes you new. So he gives this warning and a reminder, verse 31, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” because He is a God of vengeance, He's a God of justice and judgment. If Christ is not your Savior, if you have not placed your faith in Him, there is no sacrifice. You will stand before God naked as you are, guilty and condemned for your sin, and be sentenced to an eternal hell. So it is a challenge, don't let this go by you.

But he turns back again. Remember he called them brethren in verse 19, he talked about we have confidence to enter because by and large he is addressing an audience of believers, Jews who have placed their faith in Christ. So he picks up in verse 32 and says, “But remember the former days,” those early days. What days? “When after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of suffering.” These Jews who placed their faith in Christ had been enlightened. Come back to 2 Corinthians 4. Paul writes, and you'll note the context here, verse 1, “Since therefore we have this ministry,” the ministry of making Christ known and telling the truth of His salvation, the new covenant ministry, “as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.” That's the context, that's what he is going to be talking about in Hebrews 10 as we look at these closing verses of that chapter, people losing heart. He says we don't lose heart. Verse 3, “Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” There are people who, it's like they have a veil over their eyes, they can't see the truth that Christ died so you could live. “In whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” You see that, they don't see the light. But these, back in Hebrews 10, he is talking to remember the former days, after being enlightened, after the light of the gospel which you believed brought you salvation with the full forgiveness of sins. You became a child of God. After you were enlightened, the light of the gospel had shone in their hearts and minds. “When after being enlightened, you endured.” That's the key emphasis through the rest of this chapter, endurance. When after they had trusted Christ, these Jews. You understand when a person trusts Christ it cuts him off from the world, and he becomes the friend of God and the enemy of the world, and hated by the world and hated by the god of this world, the devil. But the Jews, when they believed, even their unbelieving Jewish family now hated them and rejected them. They were outcasts and they may have lost their jobs and so on. He is going to go on to explain the great loss. He wants them to go back to the early days of their salvation, and remember you were characterized by endurance. The word endurance, it's a compound word. The basic word is to abide, to live. Sometimes we have it translated abide in our Bibles. It's where you live, it's the living place. It has a word, a preposition on the front, under. And to endure is to live under the pressure. So sometimes it is translated patience. When you are patient, you are putting up with something, some kind of pressure, some kind of obstacle or opposition, something unpleasant. When things are just going smoothly you don't talk about needing patience. But when you kids are misbehaving and it is starting to get to you, you say don't try my patience. Meaning what? I'll run out of patience and you will be punished.

So that's the word, you keep it in mind. It carries the concept of difficulty, trial, unpleasantness. “Remember the former days, after being enlightened, you endured.” This is something characteristic about your early days of being a believer. And I don't want to lose your attention, but if you think back to when you first trusted Christ and there is something about that freshness and newness, and I'm so excited, I want to tell everybody. It doesn't matter that they think I'm a fool, they think I've gone off my rocker. It doesn't matter if I lose my job, it doesn't matter. What matters is God has forgiven me, I belong to Him, I want to serve Him no matter what. I've often had new Christians come and their first thought is, I think I want to quit my job and just be full time serving the Lord. That may something the Lord has for you, it may not be. But there is something about that enthusiasm of those days, and it sustains you and it helps you deal with the fact that maybe your family now is upset. We raised you Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist. You have been a Jew since you were born. The family rejection is not that important. My family has to know what is really important—Christ saves sinners, He saved me. That is what sustained them. You endured a great conflict of suffering. Not just some minor rejection, people said some unkind things about you, talked about you behind your back. No, this was major suffering. So we are not dealing with people who have slid into their Christian faith smoothly and easily. They trusted Christ, the conflict began.

And he is going to give and remind them of the examples of how. Before we leave that, verse 32, that word remember is a strong word. It is the word remember with a preposition on the front that intensifies it. He really wants them to remember. It's important that you remember your former days. Not for nostalgic purposes—that was great, I wish we could back to that. No, no. This is after you trusted Christ, the battle immediately began, you endured. How? Two ways. “Partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, through the things that you personally endured.” And then secondly, the last part of verse 33, “partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.” They not only suffered the personal opposition, pressure, we'll see more of it, but they were willing to step out and identify with those who were suffering for their faith in Christ. So it's not like, I'd love to comfort you and encourage you, but I have my hands full, I'm going through a lot myself. There are certain times when your suffering seems light, even though it may be heavy. That's where these Christians were, I'm suffering for the Lord. This is an honor, this is a privilege. People know I belong to Christ, I want them to know. I don't want to suffer, I want them to know the Christ that I know.

So that's their attitude. They endured their own suffering that involved reproaches and tribulations, and it also involved become a sharer, a fellowshipper with those who were so treated. You were looking at others, they’re a believer and they are suffering. And you were taken up not with being self-absorbed, but concern for them. You've become a part of God's family. It's like in your physical family, we see something of this. If you are suffering something, but one of your children is suffering something, somebody you love, your spouse, you overlook your suffering and are concerned to help meet their suffering and help them in that. That's the way it is now, we are God's family. These are fellow believers, how can I help them? How can I encourage them? Or in this?

What he is going to do, you have those two, their personal suffering, and then they are being identified with other believers who are suffering. He picks up the second one, the end of verse 33, “partly becoming sharers with those who were so treated, for you showed sympathy to the prisoners.” That's how he identifies, some of these believers had been put in prison. We know that the Jews used the system, and the Gentiles didn't have any love for the Jews, and when the Jews turned against the Jews they all pretty soon were like Paul. He spent quite a bit of time in prison and the Jews used the Roman system. Now you know what happens if you were a Christian and they have arrested another Christian and put him in prison? If you are going to go visit him, what does that do to you? That exposes you—what are you visiting that Christian for? Why do you care about them? We view them as criminal, you view them as deserving of punishment. I'm one of them. You know what that means, you have exposed yourself to more pressure. Now keep in mind, sometimes we think I have all I can handle without being involved in others right now. But these people were suffering. You think maybe they weren't suffering as much. Well, look what they were going through. “You showed sympathy to the prisoners,” verse 34, then he goes back to the first part of verse 33, “partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations.” And then you continue in verse 34, “accepting joyfully the seizure of your property.” Now that's not a minor thing. You know, we become believers and somebody may say nasty things, sometimes your family may, and say we are not interested in having you come to Christmas this year, or whatever they do. There are divisions that take place. This has gotten serious. If becoming a Christian and being identified a Christian means you lose your house, these Jewish believers probably lost their job. And there were problems with their family so things begin to come in. These are people who have endured that. Keep in mind he is not telling them, if this comes up. These aren't people who have never had any serious trouble in their life as Christians, he is telling them what they already had endured. I want you to think seriously about those times.

We say when you have gone through that, you have lost everything, it has been a struggle. If now you get some what we call breathing space, last thing you want is to dive back into it again. “You accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.” So why did they go through that? I thought back to when I trusted the Lord, I didn't care about anything else. Lord, it doesn't matter if I'm poor, it doesn't matter if I have an important job, I just want to tell people about the Lord. The Lord has saved me, the Lord cleansed me, I belong to the Lord. You can belong to Him too. You can be forgiven. That's the confidence they had, they were focused on the Lord. He’s promised me that I am going to heaven, I'm going to have things that He prepared for me, where He is. I have a better possession. That word better comes up again—a better possession, a lasting one. The things of this earth will pass away, all these things will be burned up, as Peter wrote in his second letter. You were focused on the hope God promised you, what your salvation would culminate with and in.

So this gets to be major. We ought to appreciate them, these are people that have endured, endured what we haven't had to endure. So we are not talking about, time to step up, complaining that people don't like me. No, these are people that have suffered greatly. Some have gone to prison, some have lost all their possessions, they are destitute. I remember reading about the Puritans, John Bunyan. He was in prison for his faith, they took all his possessions. He had children, he had a blind daughter. How do you support your kids in prison? She begged. So you sit and look out of the prison bars and here your kid is begging. Maybe I shouldn't be so aggressive with my faith, maybe I should back off. We can find all kinds of reasons.

But the writer, here under the inspiration of the Spirit, note what he says in verse 35. “Therefore,” now you remember that, you have called it to mind, remember that, go all out, whatever the cost. “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence which has great reward.” What has changed? Why are they lagging in endurance? Why is it hard to keep it going? What has happened? What has changed? I remember a time when I was discouraged, disappointed, and you think, I don't know, and I'm walking around in circles. Lord, you haven't changed, you are the great and awesome God. You are the God who provided a Savior for me, you loved me, your grace sustains me and has brought me this far. Why should I be discouraged? Like the gospel song, why should I be discouraged? Remind yourself; Lord, you take care of me, you haven't changed and I belong to you. What else matters? That's what he is saying, don't throw away your confidence as worthless. It’s valuable, that confidence which has great reward, “for you have need of endurance.” Wait a minute, let me tell you what we suffered. I went to prison, I lost all my possessions. Don't lecture me about endurance. But the Spirit of God directs this writer to the Hebrews to do just that. Tell them they need endurance. True, they had endurance, but my endurance from two years ago should encourage me, but I need today's endurance. It's not good enough to have endured, we are to endure and keep on enduring.

I've shared with you, but I’ll share it again. We had a dear family who was leaving the church and the man came and talked to me. I want to be frank, I don't want to be in any more battles. I'm tired of conflict, I want to go someplace peaceful. My first reaction is me too. Where are we going? But then the reality, I won't have to endure because everything will be fine. There won't be anything to put up with, any pressure to live under, any reproaches, any tribulations.

Back up to verse 33. We get embarrassed of being made a public spectacle. Do you know what the Greek word is? Theatrizo. That’s where we get the English word, theatrical, theater. Paul wrote it and the writer to the Hebrews writes it here. Paul said that as an apostle we are a spectacle, and used the word. It's like we have been put on the stage as they had. They didn't have movies, but the stage. And you have the people up there and they are made the spectacle. Everybody is booing and hollering and we are made a spectacle for all to despise, to reproach, and to cause pressure to. But don't throw away your confidence, you have need of endurance. That's the Christian life, it's endurance. That's why I think about passages like this as we move into a new year. Another year has passed, I trust we have grown and matured through that year, but we can't sit back and say now we can relax and take our ease. The war is not over, the battle goes on, we need endurance. One of the most dangerous things to the passing of time is what these Hebrews are experiencing. They think they have been through enough.

I had a professor when I was doing some graduate work in California, and he pastored large churches. And I appreciated him. I remember one time in our conversations he said to me, Gil, he left the pastorate and he was an older man at that time. He says I just got too weary of the conflicts, I just got tired. I just don't want any more conflicts, I don't want to fight anymore. Then I was younger and I thought, that's sad. What do you do? You just can't quit. But there is an element. As believers what do we face? Probably conflicts and battles.

“You have need of endurance.” And what strikes me, he is telling people who have endured through things that I haven't had to endure, I have a relatively easy life. And yet he is telling these people, you have need of endurance. “So that when you have done the will of God.” You note the connection, you can't do the will of God without endurance. You can't. You have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, but I don't want to have to endure. I don't want to deny the Lord, I don't want to reject Him in any way, but I get tired. I don't want to have to keep going through this. Well, do you want to do the will of God? Of course, I want to do the will of God. Then you have to endure. Isn't that what he says? “You have need of endurance so that when you done the will . . .” That doesn't mean we go out looking to stir up trouble, but it does mean we don't run and hide from trouble. I don't cloak myself so that no one will recognize me out there in the world, so they won't put me to shame and embarrass me, make a spectacle of me.

“You have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised.” That continual focus on the future. Eschatology keeps us going, what God has promised regarding our future, that is what keeps us going. I realize I have better possessions, I have an inheritance in the presence of God stored up for me. The things that seem important and valuable here will be gone, but what I have in the presence of God will be mine for eternity. So I keep that perspective. My health fails, my job goes under, what I had hoped to keep saved up. Who knows where our country is going? We see changes taking place rapidly. We talked in the book of Revelation. I see now France and Germany have been working together for that united European army. I wonder, where is the world going? I am looking for the rapture of the church, but God doesn't promise there won't be suffering for believers in this very country on a great degree before the rapture occurs. Are we prepared for it? Have we gotten so soft that we are just sort of muddling along the best we can and every little thing that comes into our lives seems to be more than we can bear? I'm just weary. If God said that happened with Israel, you have become weary of Me. You say, my how tiresome it is when it comes to serving the Lord. What a terrible thing. Lord, I'm just tired of serving You, I'm weary with You. Well, anyone who verbalized it that way, they just were acting it out.

The writer of the Hebrews doesn't want to go there. He sees signs and indications of a flagging diligence in endurance. Reminder, verse 37, “For yet in a very little while He who is coming will come and will not delay.” Reminder, He is coming again. Yes, but the writer to the Hebrews wrote that 2000 years ago, not much help to me today, still not here. I was hoping it was going to be last year, here we are in the new year and He didn't come. How long are we going to say He is coming? And you live in light of it, and He doesn't come. He is coming again, and if I die before He comes, I go to see Him. We keep our eye on the end.

But, and here is what sustains, He is coming again. But “My righteous one shall live by faith.” You enter into the relationship with God and the life with God by faith. That's the beginning of a life of faith. I can't stress this enough, it is a life of faith, it begins at that point when by God's grace you place your faith in Christ and His sacrifice for you. But that's not it, it's not just a point in time, it is the beginning of a line which is your life, and we live by faith. My righteous one, the one who is righteous by faith in Christ, will live by faith. That's what he is going to do in Hebrews 11, there are all those examples of those who live by faith, because without faith it is impossible to please God, Hebrews 11:6 will say.

And you'll note the alternative, “If he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” That's a serious statement when God says I have no pleasure in you. Do you know what that means? You are on your way to hell. True believers can't go back, can't quit. We can lag, we can be less faithful than we must be, doesn't mean we can't stumble in major ways, but you can't stay there. “We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” That's endurance. My ongoing faith is what keeps me going. If I truly trusted Christ, that faith continues. These Hebrews were lagging, but he writes to encourage them.

I've shared with you, many years ago we had several people disciplined together. One of them did eventually come back and they said, I think I'm the only one of the group that has truly trusted Christ. He wasn't running the others down, but he said, do you know the difference? They enjoyed living out there in the world, I was miserable. That's the difference. A believer can get into sin, but he can't live there. It brings misery, not happiness. For the world it brings relief, I'm free from the pressure of trying to live like a Christian when I am not.

I want to come back to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 1. I just want to say this theme, and we wouldn't have time to go through all the emphasis on the need for endurance through these New Testament epistles, Paul writes to Timothy at the end of his life. He is in a Roman prison and in 2 Timothy 4 he tells Timothy, I have no doubt that this is going to end in my execution, the process has already begun. It would be a time for Paul to reflect with Timothy and say Timothy, I have done some right things and maybe I have made some mistakes. Maybe I should have tempered it a little bit, maybe I shouldn't have been so aggressive, and maybe I wouldn't be in prison and I would be out there able to preach the Gospel. But he does the opposite with Timothy. His concern for Timothy is maybe Timothy's fire is starting to burn a little lower.

So he is confident of Timothy's salvation, verse 5, “I am mindful of the sincere faith within you,” and I know your grandmother and mother, they were true believers as well. So verse 6, “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you with the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love and discipline.” This is the picture almost like the fire. You put the logs on the fire, you get it going and it is burning, but you sit there and you don't do anything. Pretty soon it begins to burn lower and lower and lower unless you get up and you stoke it and you stir it up, and that's the picture. Timothy, I think you need a fresh stirring. God has gifted you, that gift is not burning with the same brightness, the same intensity that it once did. And it is a loving rebuke/encouragement. “God has not given us a spirit of timidity,” the word could be translated cowardice, as you have in your margin. God didn't save us to be cowards, to hide, to do all we can to avoid any suffering, any difficulty, any trial. That doesn't mean He saved us to be abrasive and unkind in our approach to people. We always want to say, I don't want to go that way. But I think there is probably more danger for us in being ashamed and afraid to bear the consequences. God gives us power, love, and discipline. Why are some Christians bold and others aren't? Well, it is just not my nature. Maybe they are allowing the Spirit of God to do in their life what I cannot do with myself. God gives a spirit of power, love, self-discipline, like Paul referred to when he wrote to the Corinthians and said, I discipline my body, I beat it black and blue so that I might fulfill what God has for me, to summarize it. Who said Paul just felt like getting up in the morning and storming out the door and confronting opposition and persecution and suffering? His body didn't feel like it, but he said, I discipline my body and do what God wants me to. And His grace enabled him.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner.” See the connection with what we just read in Hebrews? You endured your own personal suffering and you were willing to step up and be identified with the prisoners as well. “Don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner.” And you know the sad thing is as Paul writes this, there had been some who were ashamed. Verse 15, “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me.” You know, the seven churches of Asia, that province of Asia we talked about in Revelation 2-3. That doesn't mean everyone there, necessarily, but those who were present when Paul is in Rome here. From those churches, those who could have come and stood up with Paul and brought encouragement and strength to him, they didn't. And it's amazing, the Spirit of God directs him even to mention two of them by name. “Among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.” How sad it is that those two were immortalized in the eternal Scriptures. Here we are 2000 years later and they are well known for their cowardice, for their failure to step up when they could have and should have.

Back up in verse 9 he is talking about, “don't be ashamed.” In verse 8, “join with me in suffering for the Gospel according to the power of God.” This is what enables a person to suffer the way they do. Believers are suffering in parts of the world on levels we don't have to. Sometimes I like to read about the martyrs, try to put yourself in their place. You like to think you would stand strong. But I don't have to stand strong in the 16th century, I have to stand strong today. I think if I were in that I would be willing to give my life. Well, that's where I have to be today. I can't live out the life of the Puritans, I have to live the life in the day in which God has placed me.

“Join with me in suffering for the Gospel, according to the power of God.” Paul didn't know any other way to get out the Gospel but the way of suffering. Jesus said, if you want to be My follower, you pick up your cross and follow Me. It's a way of humiliation, rejection, of scorn, of pain. We come to the idea, we sort of have the good balance and we don't make issues and make waves and the world doesn't bother us. But we bother the world, and it will get worse if Christ doesn't come soon. We have to be careful that it doesn’t cause us to be quiet, we ought to be bold with the Gospel. Not telling the world to clean up their lives, that doesn't say anything, but to tell them there is a Savior without which you have no hope. You just don't think I ought not to do this kind of sin or that kind of sin, that's not your problem, you are a person living without hope in the world. You could not be doing that sin and still be on your way to hell, you need a Savior. Don’t be afraid to tell people. We say, I'm always ready if the door opens. Means what? If the person taps you on the shoulder and says, excuse me, would you tell me how to go to heaven? They don't know they are lost, that's part of the difficulty we have. If I am going to tell them they are lost they are not going to like it, and they are not going to like me. “Don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Join with me in suffering for the Gospel according to the power of God.”

Verse 13, “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me.” Paul's confidence came because he believed the truth that had been entrusted to him, and he had committed himself and his eternal soul to God and the salvation God provided, that is in verse 12. Verse 14, “Guard through the Holy Spirit the treasure which is entrusted to you. And you are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me.”

Turn to 2 Timothy 4, it doesn't get any better. Verse 16, “At my first defense,” here is the Apostle Paul who has been so bold and clear with the Gospel, who has been used of God to bring about the salvation of so many. Verse 16, “At my first defense no one supported me, all deserted me.” Not talking about unbelievers here, he's talking about believers. What had happened? Where is the courage? Where is the willingness to step up and be counted and suffer? What a testimony. At my first defense no one supported me? Well, if I go into that courtroom and get identified with Paul, the next thing you know I will be in the courtroom on trial. So? Are you ashamed of the testimony of the Lord? Well, probably, I mean it's what it comes to. Paul is gracious, “all deserted me,” he doesn't soften the language. This is a matter of deserting your post. When the opportunity is there to stand in the conflict and you don't stand you are guilty of deserting, there is no other way. A soldier can't walk off the battlefield and say, I decided I don't want to fight in this battle. That's desertion, you are gone. Here was the opportunity to stand with Paul, God had given them that opportunity. They did not, they deserted. They didn't stand up and start to deny that Jesus was…no. They deserted, they abandoned faithfulness to the truth when the opportunity was presented.

Paul is gracious, “May it not be counted against them.” Why? “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.” That's where we keep our focus. That's why you don't get disappointed in what comes. Lord, I'll be faithful to you. If that brings trial, if that brings rejection, if that brings loss, what matters is I am faithful. You will strengthen me. His grace is for me today. I think I'll be ready to stand tomorrow. Be ready to stand today. They wouldn't be called to stand with Paul down the road, Paul will have already been executed. This is the opportunity, today is a day of opportunity. I want to be what God wants me to be today. I want to be what He wants me to be tomorrow, too, but the best preparation for tomorrow is today. Right? My faithfulness, my endurance.

So why are we doing this at the beginning of the year? Because we are a church that has been around for a number of years. Do you know what I see as a danger? That our zeal and passion for the truth might cool, we might find reasons we don't have to do this or that. We don't want to be abrasive, we don't storm out into the community pointing out all the sins that everybody does in the unbelieving world—but we want to be bold here. There is no Savior but Jesus Christ. There is one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” I come to tell you there is life in Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness, there is cleansing. You can have hope beyond this life, but your religion won't save you, your good works won't save you. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” I come to tell you God will give you a free gift of life if you believe in His Son. What they do with that message is between them and the Lord. My faithfulness in giving it is between the Lord and me, and we want to continue to be faithful. Not be weary with the truth, not be weary with attacks, not be weary with the consequences of being faithful to the truth. And we want to do it in love.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace, the grace that has brought us thus far. We gather here as a people, testimonies of your grace, trophies of your grace. We are saved by grace, we live day by day by that same grace and our confidence, our trust, our assurance is in you and what you have done for us in Christ. Lord we want to walk this life the way we began this life, with a full, complete faith in you and what you have done for us. May that characterize us every day, may we be looking for the hope that will bring full realization of what Christ has provided for us. May we be a people of endurance, not discouraged, not disappointed and not turned aside. May we be bold until Christ comes. We pray in His name, amen.