He Remains Faithful Series

He Remains Faithful

A trustworthy statement

08/24/08 AM

Text: 2 Timothy 2:11-13

Introduction

This morning we have the second lesson drawn from the letters of Paul that we often refer to as the “Pastoral Epistles”, those letters written to Timothy and Titus. In this lesson, as with the others, we focus on a particular thought which Paul identifies using a phrase that underscores a particular principle or specific truth apart from the rest of the text: “This is a trustworthy statement...” By using this phrase, Paul declares to the reader: "what I have just said, or am about to say is an important truth; it is a principle you can count on."

In these statements, Paul gave to Timothy, Titus, and now to us, principles which are true and dependable, truths upon which we can build our faith and our lives in Christ.

In this lesson we are going to look at the occurrence of this phrase in 2 Timothy 2 where the trustworthy statement is made that we are saved by the love, mercy and grace of God.

Read 2 Timothy 2:11-13

Some commentaries put forth that these verses may have been part of an early Christian hymn or a statement of faith that was well known in the early church. It is not unusual for these lines to appear in stanza form as if they were a poem. Whatever there source, Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to record them in this letter to Timothy as a statement worthy of trust.

I.For If We Died with Him We Will Also Live With Him

A.Our death to sin and the new life begun now with Christ in the world and in eternity.

1.The first couplet of this trustworthy statement contrasts death and life.

a.Paul writes in Romans 6:2-23 how believers are freed from the power of sin.

Romans 6:3-4 (NASB) Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:11 - 13 (NASB) Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

1)Our living with Christ begins here, now, in our lives as believers. Choosing to follow Him we choose to not follow the world and its views.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB) Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2)As Paul wrote to the Ephesians we no longer walk in the darkness of our own minds, in callous ignorance and hardness of heart but instead we:

Ephesians 4:24 (NASB) and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

3)Our old self is put to death and we live for Him:

2 Corinthians 5:14 - 15 (NASB) For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

b.1 Peter 2:24a (NASB) and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness…

We live with Christ today, trusting in the God who feeds the sparrow and clothes the lilies of the field. Anxious for nothing we praise Him and give thanks for all things with His peace in our hearts knowing that as we live with Him today we will also live with Him in eternity:

Colossians 3:1 - 4 (NASB) Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

II.If We Endure We Will Also Reign With Him

A.Persevering in the faith even in the face of hardship or persecution will result in a reward when Christ returns.

1.endure: not merely “I passively suffer,” but “I actively persevere” and “am ready to endure patiently all things.”