Sermon Brief
Date Written: June 27, 2006
Date Preached: July 2, 2006
Where Preached: OZHBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Idolatry in the Church
Sermon Title: Stand Tall, Stand Firm!
Sermon Text: 2 Tim 3:12-16
Introduction:
In July of 1776 our nation was born of fiery revolution against the tyrant King George III of England, WHOSE SOLE GOAL along with the English Aristocracy, was to subjugate all citizens of the colonies under his rule and reign!
There came a time when our forefathers knew it was time to break away from the evil of British rule and ESTABLISH A NEW NATION founded on godly principles…
So on July 4th 1776 they gathered together and unveiled a document that would literally CHANGE THE FACE OF THE WORLD…
The Declaration of Independence has stood the test of time and has become a beacon of light in the night of tyranny to those oppressed by their leaders…
Today we stand as a free nation BECAUSE OF BRAVE MEN who dared to look evil in the face and NOT back down! Regardless of the consequences they were resolved to make this land a great nation and that nation would be governed by the people of the nation and not by some tyrant over the ocean…
I challenge each and every one here today to take time and sit down and actually read the Declaration of Independence just to see what these men were fighting against… the EVIL THEY FACED… and THE FOE THAT THEY HAD TO CONQUER.
For far too long many people had stood by and allowed British rule to dominate and subjugate them. However, was a person like Thomas Paine who stood up and said that enough was enough…Paine wrote a pamphlet entitled Common Sense and some say this pamphlet influenced the writers of the Declaration of Independence. In this pamphlet Paine is quoted as saying…
“…A long habit of not thinking a thing [to be] wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, …”
Jan 1776 Common Sense
In other words, Paine was saying that even though this is how it has been for a long time… the injustices that came from British rule WERE NOT RIGHT and something should be done…Paine went on in his pamphlet to say that NOW was the time to act! He said…
“…we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the DAYS OF NOAH until now. The birthday of A NEW WORLD is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months…”
Jan 1776 Common Sense
And in June of that same year the Continental Congress agreed with him and a measure was placed before the Continental Congress to make this happen…
“Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia at the Continental Congress
June 7, 1776
And from this stand against evil our nation was born. A nation formed out of oppression and resistance against evil…
And when we look at our nation and the events and situations that led to our independence, I cannot help but see the spiritual parallels that literally jump off the page to those looking with a discerning eye…
First, our nation was oppressed by the tyrant, King George III, whose sole goal was domination and subjugation of the people…
In our world today, we are oppressed by the spiritual tyrant Satan, and it is his sole goal to dominate and subjugate all of humanity…
2nd there was a point in time and history where our nation had the opportunity to make a historic change in direction… one that ultimately changed the face of history itself! Some say these men were drawn by fate, others say they were drawn to this out of necessity…
Today, those who are in sin have the opportunity to make a change in their lives… a change in their direction… they are lost and doomed to an eternity in hell, totally separated from God. But know that God is drawing the lost to Him by the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is convicting of sin and revealing the Truth, and it is time to make a decision that is going to change your world!
Finally, a decision had to be made, a stand had to be taken… a line in the sand had to be drawn. The step had to be taken that rid our nation of the oppression of English rule… and our forefathers did this with the Declaration of Independence…
On a Cross on Golgotha’s hill some 2000 yrs ago Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sin… JESUS DREW A LINE IN THE SAND and said, enough is enough and He overcame Satan and DECLARED OUR INDEPENDENCE through His sacrifice.
And in our world today, Satan is oppressing and continues to oppress those in this life. A stand for Christ must be taken… and a decision to trust God must be made.
Like our ancestors before us, we must learn to stand firm in the face of the enemy and not back down… and not give in… we are called by God to be courageous…
Do you remember 2 Tim 1:7? It says, “…for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind…”
Even though there is a demonic tyrant out to ‘get us’ and stop the growth of the kingdom… we are called to stand firm in the face of tyranny and proclaim Jesus Christ to a world that is lost and dying… and that is what Paul is telling Timothy here our passage this morning…
Let’s read 2 Tim 3:12-16 and you can follow along in your Bibles or you can follow along on the screen…
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 TIM 3:12-17 (NKJV)
Paul was sharing with Timothy that persecution comes with the territory… face up to it… accept it… it is GOING to happen. Paul shares that evil men are going to try to destroy you and your walk with God and your witness for Christ… but he calls on us to stand tall and stand firm in our walk with Christ…
Paul shares that for Timothy to stand tall and firm he only needed to continue doing the things Paul had taught him and the things he was assured of…
And so this morning I want to focus on what Paul was stressing to Timothy… I want to speak to all here this morning…
• all who are facing difficulty in their lives…
• all who are facing the idol of idleness or apathy…
• all who are cowering at the altar of fear and intimidation…
This morning YOU have a word from God to help you and to deliver you!
In our passage we can see that Paul emphasized that Timothy need to JUST KEEP DOING WHAT HE HAD BEEN TAUGHT and WHAT HE WAS ASSURED OF… and that is just what WE must do to stand tall and stand firm in our faith. That is what we must do to rid ourselves of the idol of idleness and apathy. That is what we must do to rise from the altar of fear and intimidation in our walk with Christ?
I want us to begin to apply what Paul told Timothy… IN OUR SPIRITUAL WALK… in other words to live a life of courage… to stand tall and firm in the face of tyranny! And for us to do that we must simply continue in the faith… doing what we have been taught and holding dear to what we are assured of…
1. WHAT ARE THE THINGS WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT?
a. Assurance of our salvation in Christ 2 Tim 1:8-10 read…
In this passage Paul tells Timothy to stand firm and not be ashamed of the salvation that God has brought into his life. It is a salvation that is a direct calling of God… not because of any good works on our part, but because of the Grace of God and His love for humanity.
And it is the same for us today, we need to be taught and know that the Gospel or the Good News of salvation is ours, but it is only ours through the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Salvation did not simply fall from the sky into our laps…
Paul also begins to address the eternal aspect of salvation as well in v.10 when he says, “…has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…”
We are taught that when we accept Christ as Savior it is a permanent arrangement, not on our part but on the part of God. It is He who seals us with the Holy Spirit, it is He who protects us by holding onto us in His hand… we are forever adopted into His family when we are saved!
We are taught that we can be assured of our salvation in Christ because He has promised that He would not let us go, but we have also been taught that…
b. God’s Word is vital to the life of the believer… v.16 read…
Another item that Paul is teaching Timothy here in our passage this morning is that the Word of God is vital to the life of the believer.
God’s Word is there to keep us pure in our walk. In the book of Psalms the Bible tells us, “…Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You…”
But as our passage this morning reveals to us, God’s Word is good for many things in the life of the believer… it is good for learning doctrine, it is good for warning others of evil and straying, it is good for correction of false teaching, it is a good tool to use to reveal how we should live.
In fact this passage tells us that if we use God’s Word in our daily lives, it makes us a complete Christian, and it equips us to do whatever God calls us to do…God’s word is our spiritual food!
And just like we cannot function for very long without physical food or water, the Christian believer cannot function properly without their daily doses of God’s Word in their lives.
Without the Word of God we are in danger of living a life that is NOT pure, we are in danger of not knowing the proper doctrine of God, we are in danger of not being able to warn other about the danger and pitfalls of this world, we are in danger of not being able to recognize false teaching and thereby falling prey to it!
Without God’s Word we cannot become the complete and mature believer that God desires and we will NOT be equipped to face the situations that come around in our lives… God’s Word is vital for the believer!
We are taught about the assurance of our salvation in Christ and we are taught the importance of God’s word but we are also taught that we can….
c. Walk the walk by learning from others v.10-11 read…
“…but you have carefully followed by doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering [patience], love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at…”
First, understand that Paul is NOT bragging about himself here, we can see that evident all throughout his writings as he constantly refers whatever he has accomplished to God’s glory!
Paul understood that his walk was entirely based on the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God. He understood that he could do NOTHING apart from Christ but in Christ he could accomplish anything… he even proclaimed this to the Philippian church when he said, “… I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me…”
No, here Paul is encouraging Timothy for not only being a part of the ministry God had through Paul… BUT that Timothy learned and grew in his faith and ministry through the watching Paul and other mature believers live…
Paul even lists the areas in which Timothy had grown… like doctrine, his manner of life, his purpose, his faith, his patience, his love, and his perseverance…
But notice something that we see in v.11… Paul doesn’t just mention the good times, but he reveals that Timothy was there for ALL the times, even the hard times! Timothy had grown thru seeing Paul’s example of being persecuted and afflicted for the Gospel sake!
When we as believer begin to ‘walk the walk” there are those who have gone before us that we need to look to for an example. First we look to Christ, but we also need a mentor here in our time… a mentor who will keep us accountable to Scripture… and a mentor who will live a life that reflects Christ in all he says and does, so that we can learn from him…
Paul encouraged Timothy that he could stand tall and stand firm in the faith if he would continue what he had learned and we have seen somewhat of what Timothy had learned… but Paul also shared that Timothy must also continue in what He was assured of… but just what is that?
2. WHAT ARE THE THINGS WE ARE ASSURED OF?
When Paul penned these words to Timothy, I am certain that Paul had in mind just what things Timothy WAS sure of in his walk with Christ!
In life today, there is but one thing that we can be assured of and that is that one day we our bodies are going to cease to function and we are going to die… we don’t like to think about it, but that one fact we can rest assured upon!
But I want to focus on the positives assurances that Timothy had and that we have as well as children of God. I want you to know that Timothy had some MARVELOUS assurances of…
a. God’s miraculous works in Paul’s ministry
In Acts 14:8-10 read, “…and in Lystra a certain man w/o strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.
This man heard Paul speaking. Paul observed him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, ‘Stand up straight on your feet!’ And he leaped and walked!”
Here we see God healing a man who had NEVER walked in his life thru the ministry of Paul, and Timothy was there to witness that great and miraculous work…
In the city of Antioch in Acts 13 we find Timothy witnessing a great outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit onto the Gentiles. Paul was so bold, he stood tall and firm in his faith and God blessed that by the entire city coming out to see him…
Many were saved in Antioch and in the surrounding region many more came to know Christ as Savior, Timothy witnessed a great revival in Antioch!
In Iconium, he witnessed the power of God moving in the people and the protection of God over his apostle Paul…
Timothy witnessed many great feats of God in his ministry with Paul, but we must realize that we too can witness the great works of God in the ministry around us…
In our fellowship we have witnessed many great and wonderful works of God. I have seen hard hearts broken and melted by the soothing balm of the Holy Spirit in their lives…
I have seen cold and dark souls, warmed and lighted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I have seen evil men broken and humbled before God, and then go out and share the Love of God with those they hated before…
God’s miracles are all around us… each and every day we pray for those who are sick and we pray that God will miraculously heal them, but one thing we can be assured of is that the greatest of God’s miracles is the miracle of salvation itself.
God sent His Son, Jesus to make way for the salvation of this world, but just what about salvation are we assured of? I can see 3 things about salvation that we can rest assured of and the 1st one is…
b. Without God, we are all sinners and lost…Rom 3:23 (NKJV)
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Even in the OT the prophet Isaiah understood what God required, he understood that it was sin and our sinful nature that separated us from God. Read Is 59:7a, “…there is none righteous, not ONE…
We are like sheep who have all lost their way and are helpless to return to safety. Sin has separated us from God… not just an ‘ugly’ few… but we need to understand that we are ALL sinners,
Sin separates us from God and there is NO way WE can do anything about it, but the Bible tells us another thing we can be assured of and it is that…
c. Only God can bring salvation
In Rom 6:23 we find Paul detailing what sin does to the soul. Read verse here… “…for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord…”
Paul tells us that sin is a death sentence that we cannot get out of on our own. But Paul also shares how we can receive a pardon from this great penalty… and that is the gift of salvation… given so that we would have eternal life…
In his letter to Titus Paul writes, “…but when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us…”
Here we find Paul sharing that there is NO way we can work our way into heaven and that it was because of God’s love and kindness that He brought salvation to us… when it comes to salvation we can rest assured that only God do it… we cannot!
We can be sure that ALL are sinners in need of salvation and that God is the ONLY means of salvation for humanity… but there is one other thing we can be sure of as well and it is that…
d. Salvation assures us heaven
In John 14:2b-3 tells us… read passage… “…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also…”
Jesus promised heaven to all who believed in Him as Messiah, as Savior and Lord. In this passage he was speaking to His disciples and giving them a promise… that promise is for ALL who chose to follow Him!
In the book of Rev 21:23-24 tells us, “…the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is the light, and the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light…”
This is a vision that John had of heaven and it reveals to us that all who are saved shall be there to walk in the light of the Lamb of God. John’s vision assures us that heaven is a certainty to those who know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Some people come to Christ so they will NOT go to hell, but the wonderful thing about being saved is that it is so much more than simply missing hell… but we gain everything in that we spend all of eternity with God in heaven…
There are many things in this life that are NOT certain, but we can rest assured that without God we are sinners who are lost and going to hell.
We can also rest assured that only God can bring about salvation in the life of a sinner, and finally today we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that for those who know Christ as Savior, heaven is their assured destination for all of eternity!
Conclusion:
Timothy was charged by Paul to live a life that made a difference and to do that he simply needed to keep doing what he had been taught and what he was assured of…
If we are going to live the life that God has called us to live, we must first be ready to be obedient and submissive to His will. All the things Paul speaks about require a submissive heart and willing obedience to God’s plan and purpose.
Are you ready to stand tall and stand firm for Jesus today? Our forefathers stood tall and stood firm in the face of insurmountable odds and overwhelming doubt… but they stood strong on what they believed.
Like wise, as believers we must stand tall and stand firm in our beliefs and in our walk with God. We have been taught and we have been assured… we must keep those things near to our hearts so that we can be the believers God has called us to be…
