I want you to turn with me to the book of 2nd Timothy, 2nd chapter, look at verses 1 through 19.
You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things you have heard may say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure a hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. He wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops, reflect on what I'm saying. For the Lord will give you insight into all of this. Remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel for which I am suffering even to the part of being chained like a criminal, but God's word is not chained. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Here is a trustworthy saying, if we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us. If we are faithless, he will remain faithful for he cannot disown himself. Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words, this is no value. It only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approves a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid Godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene among them are hominists and phthalithes who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the face of some. Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm. Sealed with this inscription, the Lord knows those who are here and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness. If we had to look at Paul's ministry and reduce it to perhaps two emphases, I think that one of the emphases would be quite as contained here in verse 10. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The second emphasis probably would be contained in verse 1, chapter 1 of the book Titus, where he says Paul is serving of God and in a possible of Jesus Christ for the faith or for the advancement of the faith or just further the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness. In the passage in Titus, he is talking about working with those who have already received Jesus Christ, who have already been justified by faith, who have come to know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in truth and are persevering in the faith. He sees as a part of his purpose to further their faith. Here in second Timothy, I feel that he is talking about a ministry that he has, an evangelistic ministry that he has for those that are not yet saved, that he nevertheless calls the elect. Let's look, first of all, to the brief exposition of the verse. He says, I endure everything. The word endure, the word which means to remain or abide under. He takes the things that are placed upon them and abides under them, recognizing that this is a part of what he has been called, so he does not lash out against them, but he abides under them. This is exactly what he was promised in Acts 9 verse 16, when the one who came to speak the word of proof to Paul, after Paul had been blended, the Lord said, he must know that what great things he should suffer for my sake. So Paul sees that he is enduring the things that are laid upon him in harmony with what God has said about his ministry. Now all things, this means all things that are placed upon him, not everything in the world, but all the things that he does endure, he endured. You're familiar with all of the things that have come into his life, how he was shipwrecked, how he was equipped, how he was rejected by his own customers, how he lost prestige, how quite often those that had been in ministry with him at one time turned away from him and foresook him, all of these things he said he endured. Now why did he endure them? He endured them for the sake of the elect. Now if I may not contradict what is said here, but I think what Paul is saying is not necessarily for the persons of the elect, but he endures them because they are elect, for the sake of the elect because they are God's elect. It is an affection for the elect that makes its way to God who has chosen them. It is a God-centered ministry that he has. He endures these things for the sake of the elect, the chosen of God, the one on whom the favor of God rests, the ones who are foreknown, the ones on whom God has set his heart beforehand. Those are the ones that Paul says he endures all things for. Now why do I think that when he's talking about the elect here, he is talking about those who are not yet saved, while the phrase that they too may obtain salvation, the word obtain means to gain, to find, to experience. He uses the word kai, the word too, they also, meaning that in addition to those who have already obtained it, that these may obtain it, in addition to me, I have already obtained it, I want these to obtain salvation. So he is speaking of those who are not yet saved, that he calls elect, who will come into salvation. Now this is not merely the fulfillment of salvation for those who are already saved, as I think 1 Peter 2 chapter 1 and 2 talks about, you endure these things that you may grow up into salvation. Those who are already saved grow up into salvation, but he's talking about the entrance into salvation on those who are not yet saved because he appends the phrase to it and with it eternal glory, meaning the fulfillment of it. He wants them to enter into it by being justified, he wants them to persevere, and he wants them to obtain eternal glory. And so a part of Paul's ministry here is enduring, remaining under, bearing those things that God in His providence places up on him. All things, even the extreme things that come into his life, even being imprisoned because he preaches the gospel, all of these things some people would count unjust Paul views as being those things that he must remain under because he come into providence of God, he endures all things for the sake of the elect. In order that, that they too might obtain salvation and with it eternal glory. Now what are some supporting motivations that he has in there? Why is he willing to endure all things for the sake of the elect? Well, the first of these, I think we see in verse 4, Paul had God centered affection. His allegiance was primarily to God. Verse 4 tells us, no one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. He wants to please his commanding officer. If God has commanded you, you go. Where God tells you to go, you go. What God tells you to do, you do. You do not ask what the result may be. You do not ask for assurances of security. You do not ask for assurance of success. You merely please your commanding officer. No one who has a good soldier involved himself in civilian affairs, meaning pursuing other things for the sake of gain. But you please your commanding officer. And so there was a God-centeredness in the evangelistic ministry of Paul. This was a supporting motivation. Our second thing that we see in his God-centered affection is that it is in harmony with the character of God, in harmony with the character of the gospel, and with the commands of Christ. Verse 5 tells us, similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown, unless he competes according to the rules. He does not make up his own gospel. He does not make up his own methods. But he sees himself as one who has assured having received the mysteries of the gospel, and one who, in a transparent and open way, commends himself to every man's conscience, preaching in a clear and forthright manner, the gospel, realizing that it is going to be the favor of life and the life and the meaning and the favor of death and the death unto song. He realizes that there are those who will perish because of it, because they reject it, because they bend their necks and are against it. But there will be those also who in humility apart because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will come to receive him. And so he plays, according to the rules, he acts in accordance with the gospel and the character of God and in the commands of Christ. Also, we see this God-centered affection as something that manifests itself in this analogy of the hard-working farmer. As one who is enduring all things, the analogy of the hard-working farmer brings before our eyes, sewing, the parable. Think about the one who goes out to sew. He sows the gospel. We also learn that the hard-working farmer is one who patiently waits for the fall in the spring rain, and, according to James, the fifth chapter, he waits for the rain to water and to nourish and to bring to fruition this that he has sewn. And we also learn from Galatians that if he has sewn to the spirit, he will reap. If we do not give up, we will reap. If we faint not, we will reap. If indeed we have sewn to the spirit. And so the hard-working farmer, the one who works in accordance with the rules of nature and accordance with the principle sewing in order that you might reap and sewing the right kind of seed that you might reap the right kind of fruit, fruit, and in accordance with being patient for the right kind of circumstances to come along that will cause this seed to germinate is the one who reaps. And so he has a God-centered affection. There is obedience to God that works in accordance with the character of God and that uses the means that God has put, it is disposal. Now, a second thing that encouraged him to endure all things for the sake of the elect was the power of the Word, the power of the Word. And I can merely suggest this, but if you see this in verse 9, God's Word is not chained, the power of the Word, the content of the Word. Remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel. In 1 Corinthians 15, he says, when he goes to this gospel, he says it's by this gospel, you are saved. In Romans 1, he says that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. He believed in the power of the Word. The preaching in the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the wisdom of God and the power of God, the power of the Word. Bolstered Paul in his enduring all things for the sake of the elect. Also, the third thing that caused him to endure all things is the faithfulness of God. He had God-centered affection, he believed in the power of the Word, and he affirmed the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God is saved in verses 11 through 13. He will remain faithful. He cannot disown himself. And the application of this truth, we see in verses 14 through 19. When he says there are some who are falling away, yet there are others whose faith is being destroyed, yet God remains faithful. His solid foundation stands firm, filled with the inscription, the Lord knows those who are here. Although he mourned, and at times might even have tended to become discouraged when he saw some of his converts falling away, he could still say, the Lord knows those who are here. Even when he was rejected by his countrymen, he could cry and say, I could wish myself a curse from God for the sake of my countrymen, and he could pray, my heart, desire and prayer to God for Israel, is that they might be saved, and yet he gives an exposition as to why they are not going to be saved in that time. The faithfulness of God to himself and to his own purposes bolstered Paul so that he can say, I endure all things for the sake of the elect. Now, what can we rejoice in in this? One, we can rejoice that we do not have the ministry of Isaiah. We do not have the ministry of Isaiah and Isaiah. The sixth chapter, after Isaiah has seen this marvelous vision of God in the temple, and after he has been prompted to say, here am I sinned me. God says, go and tell this people, be ever hearing but never understanding, be ever seeing, but never perceiving, make the heart of this people callus, make their ears dull, close their eyes, otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. Then I said, for how long will the Lord? Any answer until the city's law ruined without inhabitants until the houses were left deserted, the fields ruined in ravages, the Lord has sinned everyone far away and the land is totally forsaken, and though a kid remains in the land, it will again be laid waste, and as the tarabets and oak leaves stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land. We do not have the ministry of Isaiah. They will not turn. They will not come. If many of us were given the ministry of Isaiah, we'd say, well, I will not go then. Unless I can have a sureances that God is going to do what I wanted to do, I will not go. Why, if I believe that doctrine of election, I would not be a preacher, you may not be called if you learn that the doctrine of election is true and it diswaves you from going, because we are not given the ministry of Isaiah and we are not given the heart of Jonah. Oh, my friends, you can rejoice if you're not given the heart of Jonah. Now the Lord is the one who changes the heart, and when you rejoice and you hear the reports of people who are genuinely being saved, you hear the way God is moving in someone's life, you do not drown and scowl and say, oh, a new God would do that if the gospel were prequisitive doing such dastardly things, so these people who I wish with death and perish. That's what Jonah did. Lord, when you call me, I knew that you would turn. I knew that they would repent. I knew that they would be saved. I didn't want to go. Thank God you're not given the heart of Jonah, but you're given a heart that loves the gospel and loves the loss and rejoices to see people genuinely converted. Thank God that we're also given enough light to discern that even in the midst of massive movements of the spirit, there are some who will turn out to be Simon Nages. There are some who will turn out to be Hamineus. There are some who will turn out to be Falitas. There are some who will turn out to be Dimas. There are some whose faith will be destroyed, but it was never a true faith because God's solid foundation stands firm. And we can rejoice that we have the promise of Peter, that we consider the patience of our God as salvation, that all of those whom he has foreknown, all of those whom he considers his godly ones, that he determines to deliver out of trouble and out of distress and out of persecution, we have the promise that he is not willing that any of them should perish, but all of them will impalibly come to salvation. Or we can rejoice that as long as the Lord delays, we know that there are more elect who will be saved than we would call by the preaching of the gospel. Praise God that he has given us such a ministry. Praise God that we can so deceive and we can await the fall rain. We can await the spring rain and we can let God germinate it and reap the harvest to his own glory. Always given us a marvelous ministry, a marvelous gospel. We should have God's centered affections. We should plate according to the rules. We should be hard working farmers. That we might endure all things for the sake of the elect. Somehow the Lord has always blessed me with the special music that is sung before I preach. It's always been something I agreed with. I can't stand to preach after something song that I disagree with. Hard. I agree with that. That was good. Thank you. I want you to turn with me to the book of 1 John, beginning with verse 12 and read through verse 27. I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you father because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you young man because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children because you have known the father. I have written unto you father because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young man because you're strong and the word of God abadeth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abadeth forever. Little children, it is the last time and as you heard that any Christ shall come, even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us but they were not of us. For if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us but ye have an option from the holy one and you know all things. I've not written unto you because you know not the truth but because you know it and that no lies of the truth. Who is alive but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denies the father and the son whose whoever denies the son the same has not the father. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the son and in the father and this is the promise that ye have promised us even eternal life. These things have are written unto you concerning them that seduce you but the anointing which ye have received of him abide is in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teaches you all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it has taught you ye shall abide in him.