Firm Foundation of God
Serving as the church - Book of 2nd Timothy • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:08:29
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Rock Solid Foundation
Rock Solid Foundation
Confusion or certainty, you choose? We know the answer, people want certainty. Our study this morning is a comfort and caution regarding religious confusion and religious certainty. Let’s journey together this morning in God’s Word.
People want certainty, especially in religious or spiritual matters
With many false teachers, teachings out there it is difficult to have religious certainty
Yet when it comes to God, the God of the Bible, there is a rock solid foundation that is easily identified. A foundation that God has set His seal on.
God’s seal on God’s foundation (2Tim2:19)
19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”
On God’s building the church (Eph2:20-21; 1Cor3:9-10)
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,
Foundation that was built on the apostles and prophets, built on Jesus as the cornerstone.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
The church, God’s building and we need to be careful how we build on it.
(insert: Cornerstone picture here)
The seal mentioned in (2Tim2:19) as Barnes Notes proclaims is “an inscription in which it was customary to inscribe the name and design of the edifice on the cornerstone.”
The inscription on the church is Jesus Christ, it is a statement of comfort and a statement of caution, of encouragement and warning.
So, this morning only two points, but many scriptures.
The Lord knows those who are His
Let the Lords depart from iniquity
The Lord knows those who are His
The Lord knows those who are His
In a time and place of religious confusion, to the Christian there can be religious certainty too for the Lord knows those who are His.
19 But the solid foundation that God has laid cannot be shaken; and on it are written these words: “The Lord knows those who are his” and “All who say that they belong to the Lord must turn away from wrongdoing.”
Religious uncertainty/confusion (Mt7:13-14; Act10:1-2; Mt7:21-23)
I think we can agree that we live in a time of religious confusion,religious uncertainty
many proclaim the name of Jesus with sincerity
But many do not, cannot agree on the doctrine and it causes division.
Religious confusion about who is truly saved, though scripture tells us
It is not the majority
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
it is not necessarily even the devout
1 Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.
or those who confess and do things in the name of Jesus
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Yet there can be religious certainty
From the calling by (2The2:13-14) and the adding to (Act2:41, 47)
The Lord is building His church as it states in Mat16:18 “18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
And then consider 1Th2:12 “12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
He calls through the gospel
13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Calling through the gospel to add to the church those who respond
41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
and then a few verses later
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
To the calling for
Faith and baptism(Mt28:18-20)
Just quote Mt28:18-20 “18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””
Repentance and baptism (Act2:38; Mt16:15-16)
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Then just reference Mk16:15-16 “15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
Immediate baptism (Act22:16; Act8:35-38)
16 ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’
oh wait, I said immediate let me give you a better scripture
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
For purposed baptism (Act2:38; Rom6:3-7; Gal3:27)
For the forgiveness of sins, so to walk in the newness of life
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 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.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
and one more
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
(Insert- what do you believe picture here)
So, in a time of religious confusion, uncertainty the first thing to do is to come to certainty by obeying the gospel message. (deliver the gospel here; hold off on the invitation though)
Let the Lord’s depart from Iniquity
Let the Lord’s depart from Iniquity
Having religious certainty should lead now to taking religious action. Here we will look at those that belong to the Lord depart from iniquity.
For there even within those who call on the name of the Lord to have still yet some religious confusion, division. There was religious division in the early church
There was religious division in Antioch (Act15:1-2)
1 Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.
So there was division over circumcision.
Religious division in Corinth (1Cor1:10-13; 3:3)
10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Here it was they were following preachers (preacher-itus)
And the churches in Asia Minor (Rev2:14-15, 20)
With the churches in Asia they were being influenced by the false teachers
14 ‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 ‘So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
This was nothing new, there was division then, and there is religious division today as:
Foretold by Jesus (Mt13:24-30)
Just summarize Mt13:24-30 “24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ””
Foretold by Paul (Act20:29-30)
To the Ephesian elders when Paul called them to Militus
29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Foretold by Peter (2Pt2:1-3)
Peter gave in the form of a warning
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Yet even within the church, where there is religious division and and confusion we can have religious certainty. If you wonder how:
Here are some suggestions to have religious certainty:
Heed to the apostolic authority
Given to apostles (Jn13:20; Mt28:20)
20 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
And we know that Jesus had all authority according to Mt28:20.
Evident in early church (Act2:42; 1The2:13)
42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
and then see in Thesalonica
13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
And I believe is, or should be, evident today (2The2:15; 1Jn4:6)
The church then was told to holdfast, as are we today
15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
and the words from John
6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
So, surrender to apostolic authority and then to depart from iniquity
Depart from iniquity in our lives (2Cor7:1; Col3:5-8)
Paul told the Corinthians: 2cor7:1 “1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Then he told the Colossians
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Depart from those practicing iniquity (2The3:6, 14)
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.
Depart from those teaching things contrary to the apostles doctrine ( 2Tim3:1-5)
2tim3:1-4 “1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,”
Now look what it goes on to say in (v.5
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
Avoid such men as these!
So, how do we wrap up the firm foundation of God, the seal of of God on the foundation, the church?
Take comfort in the firm foundation, the seal that the Christian has knowing that the Lord knows those who are His.
Take caution in departing from iniquity and those who dwell in iniquity.
(Insert invitation slide: seal of God picture here)
First and foremost do you have the seal on you? Are you a Christian?
(Song) (Prayer) (Close)