Persuaded that He is Able

2 Timothy 1:11-14

Heritage Bible Church

March 7, 2004

AM Worship Service

Monday: Read II Tim. 1:1-14

Introduction:

I.      The Gospel is the Believer’s Explanation for suffering (11-12a).

A.    Paul was appointed to office for the purpose of the Gospel (v. 11).

1.      a preacher

2.      . . . apostle

3.      . . . teacher

Applications/Questions: God is giving all of us gifts, opportunities, and desires relating to His glory revealed through the good news of the gospel. Have you or are you carefully examining how God is seeking to tell the gospel story in your personal life and through your witness? Are you regularly thanking God for revealing the gospel to you? Who are you praying for regularly that God has brought into your sphere of unbelieving contacts?

Tuesday

B.     Paul suffered for the sake of the Gospel (v. 12).

1.      On account of the Gospel Paul suffers.

2.      That’s why he could say, “I’m a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

3.      He wasn’t Nero’s prisoner.

4.      He was exactly where the Sovereign God wanted him.

5.      Q:  Do you see how the Gospel of God’s Sovereignty and Grace is strong consolation for those who are suffering?

6.      God’s absolute sovereignty married with His grace is the best medicine for a suffering soul.

Applications/Questions: Are you suffering right now for the sake of the gospel? Are you fearful of suffering and, as a result, not doing what God has appointed you to do? Do you know of someone suffering persecution, family difficulties, financial hardship, or physical affliction? How are you reminding them of God being at work through their suffering? Consider Isaiah 53 or I Peter 2 to think on the One who suffered the most for the sake of the gospel in your life.

Wednesday

II.      Christ is the Believer’s Confidence in suffering (12b).

A.    I am not ashamed (1:12b)

1.      Point:  The temptation in the midst of such suffering is to be ashamed.  What is the remedy for shame?

2.      A relationship to the Christ of the Gospel.

a.       I know whom I have believed

1)      Paul knew Christ.

2)      The Scriptures reveal Christ in two broad roles:  Creator and Redeemer.

3)      Within those two categories falls every other position and role of Jesus Christ.

4)      But here there is something in particular that Paul is persuaded of.

Applications/Questions: In Trusting God Even When Life Hurts, Jerry Bridges states that it is hard to trust someone you do not know. Think of the people in your life that you trust. Why do you trust them? Are any of them strangers that you know very little about? God the Father has given His Word and His Son as specific means to know Him. Are you taking advantage of the gracious means God has provided to know Him and asking for His Spirit to be at work in your heart as you read God’s Word?

Thursday

b.      I am convinced

1)      Persuaded:  I have confidence, am convinced OF WHAT?

2)      That He is able:

a)      δυνατός:  possessing the ability to perform a particular function.

b)      Luke 1:49 Mary calls God “The Mighty One”

c)      Lk 4:36 with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

d)     Lk 6 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went power out of him, and healed them all.

e)      Lk 19 37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;

f)       1 Cor 6 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

g)      Rev 11 17 saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.”

3)      The same power demonstrated on earth to cast out demons, to heal sickness of every kind, the power demonstrated in the resurrection of Christ and the new birth of the believer, the power demonstrated at the consummation of the ages in establishing the final rule of Christ is the very power by with which He does something for the believer.

4)      to keep [or guard] that which I have committed unto him

a)      that which has been entrusted to the care of someone[1]

b)      What had Paul entrusted to God?

c)      Heart, soul, mind, faith, ministry, well-being, everything.

d)     Paul has not entrusted portions of himself to the power of Christ.

e)      He has entrusted all that he is.

f)       Q:  Have you entrusted all that you are to this able Christ?

5)      against that Day

a)      The day of final judgment

b)      That day when every soul stands before the Living God to give account.

c.       Point:  Paul is persuaded that Christ possesses the ability to guard his soul through every moment of earthly ministry and suffering, through each epoch of life, and deliver him whole, intact, complete at the final day of judgment.

d.      That is a man who understands the power of saving grace.

Saturday: Reread II Tim. 1:1-14

B.     Application:

1.      Some of you struggle with assurance of salvation in that you wonder if your faith is strong enough, if your decision was real enough, sincere enough, committed enough.

2.      I cannot tell you how many times I prayed for assurance of salvation between the time I was 10 years old and 20.

a.       I’d hear a message on hell and it would terrorize me.

b.      I’d hear a message on the works of the flesh and it would overwhelm me.

3.      I’d lie in my bed at night and say week after week, “O God, if I never meant it before, I mean it tonight.  Come into my heart and save me from my sins.  I don’t want to go to hell!”

4.      And then my sophomore year of college the truth that God had purposed from before the foundation of the world to save people like me began to lay hold of my heart.

5.      The truth that salvation is all of grace through faith and that it is not now nor ever will be of ourselves took hold.

6.      I read passages like John 1:13 which says that a man is born again, “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

7.      And I began to understand what so many have preached and written through the centuries:  salvation is all of grace!

8.      The issue shifted from “Am I believing enough” to “is Jesus able to do what He said He would do?”

9.      And as God is my witness, I do not believe I have doubted my salvation since.

C.     1 Peter 1 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who [we] by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

D.    The purpose and grace of God which save to the uttermost are the same purpose and grace which sustain the believer in deepest hours of suffering.

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[1]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A.