A Sacrificial Ministry

Text: II Timothy 2:8-13

Place Preached - (Mississauga International Baptist Church)

Date Preached - (04/01/01)

Introduction:   

Contrast Jeremiah with modern prosperity preachers.  Benny Hinn et. al.

Jeremiah 9:1  Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

LOOK UP & READ Jeremiah 12:1-5

Faithful service to the Lord has always been costly.  Listen to Paul’s testimony…..

Acts 20:24  But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Four powerful motives for faithfulness in Ministry

I. The Preeminence of the Lord vs.8

You will be more aggressive in your service, have a greater courage, and have a greater endurance of suffering as you fix your focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ!!

“Remember” is in the active voice – Lit. Continue to remember, or keep on remembering.

Remembering our Lord’s earthly life serves to protect us from false promises of health, prosperity, success etc.

A. Remember Christ because He is risen from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

This message is of first-rate importance to believers.  Why? (See vs. 17 & 19).

Colossians 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

It is the Risen Lord we remember, not simply the fact of the resurrection.

B. Remember Jesus Christ in His humanity. 

Hebrews 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Hebrews 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

He is “a merciful and faithful high priest” Hebrews 2:17

He is also Lord and Sovereign.

If Jesus is Lord and Sovereign, why should we worry about what happens in this life?

FEAR

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real

1 Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Isaiah 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

II. The Power of the Word vs.9

A. By contrast with Paul’s imprisonment God’s Word was unfettered.

Paul, as a servant of the living God, was subject to imprisonment by ungodly men.

2 Timothy 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

Paul was likely awaiting death in the notorious Mamertime prison at Rome.

Yet God’s Word remained powerful.

Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Ephesians 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

B. The preservation of the power of the Gospel does not require the preservation of freedom.

Christian’s have fought the wrong battles.  Moral majority etc.

God’s Word is not subject to man’s restrictions.

“the word of God is not bound” – This was a common inscription found on the walls of the Roman catacombs.

CATACOMBS – Underground passageways with a network of 600 miles in which Christians hid, used as meeting places and as burial grounds.

C. The more God’s Word is assailed the more it prevails.

ILLUS: Communism (China, Russia etc.)

III. The Purpose of the Work vs.10

Those who belong to Christ must extend the call of Christ to those who have not heard in order that they too may obtain eternal life if they heed the message.

2 Peter 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Acts 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

He calls those who belong to Him to extend His call to those who have not heard and heeded it.

Matt. 28:19 / Acts 1:8

“No one deserves to hear the gospel twice until every one has heard it once”  - Oswald J. Smith

LOOK UP & READ Romans 10:14-17

IV. The Promise of Eternal Blessing vs.11-13

“It is a faithful saying”  This phrase indicates that which is commonly known and believed.  Appear 5 times in the pastoral epistles and is found nowhere else in the NT.

A. Those who endure persecution and even martyrdom for Christ give evidence that they truly belong to Him.

Paul clearly has his own martyrdom in view.

The martyr’s hope is everlasting life after  death.

B. Those who deny Jesus Christ will be denied by Him.

Matthew 10:33  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

1 John 2:22-23  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

23  Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

INCLUDES….

…..False Teachers

2 Peter 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

…..Those who once professed Him, but now deny Him.

This looks at a situation where the cost of confessing Christ is very high and therefore tests the validity of one’s faith.

*Note – Peter’s denial  (Matt. 26:69-75)

Perhaps the answer to Peter’s denial is that his was a momentary failure, followed by repentance.  He did not as yet have the fullness of the Spirit, but during the rest of his life after Pentecost he boldly confessed Christ, even when it cost him his life.

C. The unsaved ultimately deny Christ, because they never had faith in Him for salvation, but He remains faithful.

Endurance is not a means of salvation, but evidence of salvation, evidence that we belong to God.

Only an obedient life will endure.

Colossians 1:21-23  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23  If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

By contrast…..

Just as Christ will never renege on His promise to save those who trust in Him, He also will never renege on His promise to condemn those who do not.

To do otherwise would be to deny Himself, which His righteous and just nature cannot allow Him to do.

Conclusion:     (Review)