*************2 timothy 2:8

2 Timothy 2:8 (NRSV)

8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel,

The Lord Jesus is the grand theme of the Bible! The Bible is the unfolding revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s life, love, and labor! The Bible tells us about His power, promises, and purposes! The Bible’s message is all about Jesus! Aaron Jeffrey’s song “Through the Bible—He is” declares it well:

◾ In Genesis, He’s the Breath of Life;

◾ in Exodus, the Passover Lamb;

◾ in Leviticus, He’s our High Priest;

◾ Numbers, ‘the Fire by Night’

◾ Deuteronomy, He’s Moses’ voice

◾ In Joshua, He is salvation’s choice

◾ Judges, Lawgiver

◾ Ruth, the Kinsman Redeemer

◾ In 1st & 2nd Samuel, our trusted Prophet

◾ In Kings and Chronicles, He’s Sovereign

◾ Ezra, the true and faithful Scribe

◾ In Nehemiah, He’s the Rebuilder of broken walls and lives

◾ In Esther, He is Mordecai’s courage

◾ In Job, the timeless Redeemer

◾ In Psalm’s, He is our Morning Song

◾ In Proverb’s, Wisdom’s cry

◾ Ecclesiastes, the Time and Season

◾ In the Song of Solomon, He is the Lover’s Dream

◾ In Isaiah, He is the Prince of Peace

◾ Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet

◾ Lamentations, the Cry for Israel

◾ Ezekiel, He’s the call from sin

◾ In Daniel, He’s the Stranger in the Fire

◾ In Hosea, He is forever faithful

◾ In Job, He is the Spirit’s Power

◾ Amos, the arms that carry us

◾ In Obadiah, He is the Lord our Savior

◾ In Jonah, He is the Great Missionary

◾ In Micah, the Promise of Peace

◾ In Nahum, He is our Strength and our Shield

◾ In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He’s pleading for revival

◾ In Haggai, He restores the lost heritage

◾ In Zachariah, our Fountain

◾ In Malachi, He is the Son of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings

◾ In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God, Man, Messiah

◾ In the Book of Acts, He is the Fire from Heaven

◾ In Romans, He is the Grace of God

◾ In Corinthians, the Power of Love

◾ In Galatians, He is Freedom from the Curse of Sin

◾ Ephesians, our Glorious Treasure

◾ Philippians, the Servants heart

◾ In Colossians, He is the Godhead Trinity

◾ Thessalonians, our Coming King

◾ Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, He is our Mediator and our Faithful Pastor

◾ In Hebrews, the Everlasting Covenant

◾ In James, the One Who Heals the Sick

◾ In 1st and 2nd Peter, He is our Shepherd

◾ In John and in Jude, He’s the Lover coming for His Bride

◾ In the Revelation, He is King of kings and Lord of lords

◾ He is, He is, He is!

◾ The Prince of Peace, the Son of Man, the Lamb of God, the Great I AM.

◾ He’s the Alpha and Omega, our God and our Savior

◾ He is Jesus Christ the Lord!

◾ And when time is no more—He is!

He was, He is, and He is to come! The Lord Jesus Christ is! Paul challenged Timothy to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians should never forget the Person of Jesus, the passion of Jesus, and the power of Jesus. The Bible calls for us to remember Him!

Scientists tell us that the human mind can store as many as six hundred memories a second in a lifetime of seventy-five years without the slightest strain. That works out to 1,419, 120,000,000 memories! When memory becomes flabby, lack of mental exercise (more than advancing years) is usually the reason.

In all the memories that we may have and store and recall, may we remember the Person and work of Jesus Christ! In all the memories that we may lose, forget, and or misplace, may we never forget what Jesus has done for us, may we never lose the impact of Who He is! May we never misplace the memory of Him! May we by the day, hour, minute, and seconds recall Who He is and what He has done! Have you forgotten Jesus? Do you remember what He has done for you? Are you living in daily awareness of the Person, work, and power of the Lord Jesus? What place does King Jesus have in your life? This verse gives us some reminders about what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. We learn first that we are to:

I. Remember the Lord. (8a)

“Remember that Jesus Christ”

In the context of this verse, Paul was exhorting Timothy to be faithful to Jesus Christ in the face of trouble and trials. Paul encouraged Timothy:

◾ to be strong in the Lord (vs. 1)

◾ teach the word to faithful men (vs. 2)

◾ endure hardships as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus (vs. 3)

◾ and stay focused on what God has called Him to do (vs. 4–6)

Paul trusted the Lord to give young Timothy understanding in all things! It was in the face of certain persecution that Paul exhorted Timothy to remember Jesus Christ. Remember: mnemoneuo, mnay-mon-yoo’-o; to exercise memory, i.e. recollect; by implication to punish; also to rehearse, make mention, be mindful, remember. In the Greek this word is an imperative and it is in the active voice which means to “continue to remember” or “keep on remembering.”

Notice: Paul is exhorting the preacher to “Remember Jesus Christ.” If preachers need to be challenged to remember Jesus—how much more should the lay people be challenged to remember Jesus. All of us need to remember Jesus!

◾ We are to look to Jesus and live for Jesus

◾ We are to trust in Jesus and turn to Jesus

In the midst of:

→ Trials and tribulations—remember Jesus

→ Persecutions and pains—remember Jesus

→ Setbacks and set ups—remember Jesus

→ Serving and suffering—remember Jesus

→ Travels and travails—remember Jesus

→ Hard times and heartaches—remember Jesus

John MacArthur wrote, “The preeminence of our Lord Jesus Christ should always be in the forefront of our minds. He is the supreme and ultimate teacher of teachers … He fought the greatest battle and won the greatest victory. He ran the greatest race and won the greatest prize. He sowed the perfect seed and reaped the perfect harvest. We must keep in mind that Jesus’ path to glory was marked by pain before pleasure, sorrow before joy, humiliation before glorification, persecution before exaltation, death before resurrection, earthly hatred before heavenly worship.” Paul calls for Timothy to remember Jesus Christ!

→ Don’t lose focus and don’t lose faith!

→ Don’t get distracted and don’t become detached!

Remember Jesus Christ in the day in and day out issues and circumstances in life. We are to remember our Lord! Question: Why is it so easy to forget Jesus? Why is it so hard to keep on remembering Jesus? We are to look to Him and learn from Him!

We are to believe on Him and be bold for Him! We are follow Him and be faithful to Him! Albert Barnes wrote, “There is nothing better fitted to enable us to endure the labors and trials of this life, than to think of the Savior.” No matter where we are or what we are going through we need to remember the Lord! Memory is a powerful thing and some memories can help us while other memories can haunt us. Some memories are easy to recall while others are hard to find. Some people live in the past and dwell in the past and they are hindered by their past! In that sense we are not to look back to the past and be hindered, but we are to look back to the Person to be helped. There are things that we need to forget or can afford to forget, but there are some things that we better never forget!

Don’t forget:

◾ Your anniversary date

◾ Your children’s birthday

◾ Your work schedule

◾ When a bill is due

Above all we better not forget Jesus Christ who is Lord! Being conscious of our Lord helps us to respond to trials properly, serve the Lord in the right way, and worship Him acceptably. Paul’s call to young pastor Timothy was to remember the Lord! You and I are still called to remember our Lord! It is human nature to be self-centered and self-focused. We need to be challenged to remember Jesus! Some folks can go all week long and not think about Jesus Christ until next Sunday at “church.” We cannot live for Jesus, honor Jesus, and serve Jesus if we do not remember Jesus Christ! We cannot stand for Him and be a witness for Him if we forget Him!

Application:

◾ When we do not pray daily we forget Jesus!

◾ When we do not read His word and meditate on His word we forget Jesus!

◾ When we do not tell others about His grace and His gospel we forget Jesus!

◾ When we do not sing His praises and brag on Him we forget Jesus!

◾ When we think more about a book we are reading or a program that we are watching we forget Jesus.

◾ When we give our time, talents, and treasures to worldly and carnal things we forget Jesus!

As Tommy Walker has written the song “We Will Remember,” so too, we need to remember Jesus.

◦ We will remember, we will remember, we will remember the works of Your hands.

◦ We will stop and give You praise for great is Thy faithfulness.

◦ You’re our Creator, our life Sustainer, Deliverer, our Comfort, our Joy.

◦ Throughout the ages You’ve been our shelter, our peace in the midst of the storm.

◦ With signs and wonders You’ve shown Your power; with precious blood You showed us Your grace.

◦ You’ve been our helper, our Liberator, the Giver of Life with no end.

Do you daily remember the Lord? Are you consistently remembering the Lord? The Bible tells us about Jesus Christ our Lord. We’ve learned that we are called to remember the Lord. We also learn that we are to:

II. Remember His lineage. (8b)

“of the seed of David”

In calling Timothy to remember Jesus Christ why would Paul remind Timothy that Jesus Christ was “of the seed of David?” He reminds Timothy of this fact to emphasize that Timothy is not just remembering anyone, but He is remembering the Promised One! He is remembering:

→ the Lamb of God

→ the Lord of Glory

→ the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!

The “seed of David” refers to the lineage of our Lord Jesus. The One who created David then came to earth through the “seed of David.” In speaking to King David the Prophet Samuel foretold of the coming Messiah.

2 Samuel 7:12–13 says, “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Psalm 89:3–4 says, “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 4 ‘Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.” ’

Isaiah 11:1–2 says, “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.”

Jeremiah 23:5–6 says, “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 6 In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

John MacArthur wrote, “Jesus fulfilled those messianic predictions just as He fulfilled all others. As the descendant of David, Jesus inherited the right to restore and to rule David’s kingdom, the promised kingdom that would be without end. The second Person of the Trinity was born into a human family and shared human life with all other humanity, identifying Himself with fallen mankind, yet living without sin … That is the gospel, the great good news, that in Jesus Christ God became a Man who could die for all men, a substitute sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.” Let us never forget our Lord and His lineage. In Jesus we have the promised Messiah. He fulfilled the prophesies made about His coming! He was of the “seed of David.” Paul challenges Timothy to remember the Lord, remember His lineage, and lastly we note:

III. Remember He’s living. (8c)

“was raised from the dead according to my gospel.”

Above all that we are to remember about Jesus, we must never forget that He is alive! Paul didn’t challenge Timothy to remember that Jesus was:

→ a great teacher

→ a compassionate friend

→ a powerful speaker

→ a miracle worker

→ or a great leader!

Paul challenged Timothy to remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead! Prasad Aghamkar is a Southern Baptist missionary in Louisville, Kentucky who reaches out to Hindus. His life could have taken a completely different path had God not intervened years before. Prasad’s father was a Hindu priest, just like his grandfather, in their homeland of India. It is important for a priest to have a spiritual guru so his dad followed a very old man until he died. A year after the guru’s death, Prasad’s father and his friends went to the grave to pay tribute and seek wisdom. They exhumed the body and bowed down to the remains in hopes of gaining greater wisdom. A missionary watched the process and then told them about a spiritual leader who was put into a grave but later rose. That began a six-month journey of study for Prasad’s father. He walked hours to see the missionary and ultimately embraced Christ as his Lord. His conversion brought persecution, but this former Hindu priest was determined to follow Christ and prayed the same for his family. They all became Christians, and now Prasad is starting a church in Louisville to reach the 10,000 Indians who live there. Christians don’t visit the tomb of Jesus to find wisdom and guidance. We can simply pray to the resurrected Lord who vacated His grave.

Preacher’s and the people all need to remember daily and consistently that Jesus conquered death and the grave! Timothy had heard and believed the gospel—he heard how Jesus suffered on the cross for his sins, how He was buried in a borrowed tomb, and on the third day He rose again! That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. To believe that He was raised from the dead we must believe that He first died! We serve the Risen Savior! He is Alive! He is living! We do not serve a false god or a dead god! We serve the true and Living God!

As the anonymous poem declares it:

◾ O, behold the Savior hanging on the cross, bearing our transgressions, all earth’s sin and dross;

◾ Great the love that drove Him up to Calvary; all may have new life and joy now and eternally.

◾ O, behold the Savior risen from the tomb; men and demons tremble, their eternal doom.

◾ Angels hymn His praises, saints behold His face, sinners who repent, believe, receive His glorious grace.

◾ Soon we’ll hear God’s trumpet surrounding from the sky, saints be raised triumphant, never more to die;

◾ We, the living, with them soar to Heaven above, there we’ll worship Him with joy and everlasting love.

We do not just remember the historical Jesus, but the reigning and ruling Jesus.

→ We do not serve a figment of our imagination, but the Lord of all Creation!

Have you believed the gospel? Do you believe that Jesus is literally and physically raised from the dead? Romans 10:9–10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” What does it mean to you that Jesus is living? What impact has the Resurrected Lord made on you? We are not to forget Jesus, put the memory of Jesus on a shelf, or in a safe, or leave Him within the four walls of the church facilities! Jesus is Lord of all! We need to remember the Lord, remember His lineage, and we need to remember He’s living. It never pays to forget Jesus Christ! If you live life with no thought of Jesus you will grow cold and calloused, you will remain lost, you will be hard and hell bound. At the end of life we will never regret daily remembering the Lord and remembering He’s living.

Let us from this day forward:

→ live like He is living

→ live like He is Lord

→ live like He is risen

→ live like He is reigning

Do you know the Risen Savior and Lord? Have you trusted Jesus Christ to save you? Be saved today! He died for your sins—confess your sins to God and in repentance turn to the Lord Jesus by faith. Trust Him today and be saved from the wrath to come! Believe the gospel today. John 11:25–26 says, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Are you “living” and “believing” in Jesus? Do you easily forget Jesus? Do you have a hard time remembering Jesus? The Bible tells us to remember the Lord, remember His lineage, and remember that He’s living! Would you repent of your forgetfulness and living life like there is no Lord? God is calling for us to face trials and troubles, difficulties and decisions by remembering our Lord! The Lord Jesus promises to be with us, guide us, provide for us, and be Lord over us! Trust Him without delay!

Paul had revealed the gospel to the people. Paul had received the gospel from God. He gave the message that was given to him. You and I have heard the message of the gospel and we are to give the message that we have received.

Without the message of the resurrection of Jesus:

→ there is no gospel to preach

→ there is no message to proclaim

→ there is no hope to hold to

→ there is no reason to believe

→ there is no purpose for our giving

→ there is no power in our serving

→ there is no promise for the future!

Thank God, though, that Jesus is risen indeed! Believe today; trust today; be saved today! Repent today—remember today—be revived today! Timothy had been left in Ephesus to pastor that church for a while according to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Timothy was well familiar with that flock! The church at Ephesus had left their first love (Jesus), they had not remembered and they were going through the religious motions. Revelation 2:4–5 says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place—unless you repent.”