Unstoppable, Unquenchable, Unthwartable, p.2

Well, grab your Bibles and let's go back to 2 Timothy.

I got most of the way through this message last week, and have the last point to conclude this morning, so probably will not be as long as we normally are, but I did add some to it, so who knows? 2 Timothy chapter 2, Paul's writing to Timothy, his young understudy, giving him guidance for the church, but spending a lot of energy, as we see here, talking to Timothy personally about persevering, about never giving up, about never leaving the faith, when the odds are against you and persecutions abound, whatever it may be, for Timothy to stay strong. And he gives some wonderful words here that encourage us to say faithful to the end.

I've entitled this exposition, Unstoppable, Unquenchable, and Unthwardable. Verse 9, going to verse 13, 2 Timothy 2, For which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal, but the Word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it eternal glory.

It is a trustworthy statement. For if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. And if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. First of all, I think Paul speaks of the unstoppable power of the Word of God. That was our first main point, the unstoppable power of the Word of God. He talks about the fact that, Timothy, I'm a criminal here in this prison in Rome, and that's what they call me.

It literally meant an evil one. He said, but I'll wear that for the gospel if that's necessary. I'll take that, and we should expect that there will be times in our lives, in our church family corporately, and in our individual Christian lives, if we are striving to be true to God, first of all, you're going to be terribly misunderstood. There'll be so many who will really believe you're up to no good, that you're really a detriment to kindness and goodness and the well-being of the community.

That's been happening through the through the centuries. And you're going to be finding yourself, hopefully not in prison like Paul, but persecuted for the faith. But then Paul goes on to say in verse 9, they've got me in prison, they're calling me a criminal, and I'm not a criminal, but the Word of God, he says in verse 9, is not imprisoned.

Powerful. You can't stop the Word of God. You can't imprison the Word of God. Matter of fact, throughout the centuries, as the powers that be try to crush out the church and crush out the gospel and the ministry of the Word, they've only actually helped accelerate the spreading of the Word of God. Paul's passion about this is revealed, I think, in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1, where he says, finally brethren, pray for us. Finally being, the final most important thing is, pray for us that the Word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it also did with you.

So that's what he's saying. Now I'm out of prison, I'm going everywhere preaching the gospel, seeing souls saved, bringing them together into local New Testament churches, and even if I am in prison, the gospel is still going forth. And we talked about the ways it's not in prison, that how through the centuries, God has used that persecution of the Word to actually multiply the advancement of the Word in the earth. Matter of fact, in Philippians 1, 12 through 14, Paul said, I want you to know brethren, that my circumstances, that's his imprisonment, have turned out for greater progress of the gospel.

It's unstoppable. Verse 13, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the Word of God without fear. He said, I'm in prison, but now my associate ministers are even more emboldened to keep, and even to a greater extent, to keep being faithful and to a greater extent, keep preaching the Word of God. The Word of God is unstoppable. And again, what did Paul do in prison? A lot of his New Testament writings were while he was imprisoned.

So what he did in prison, pinning the Word of God, has now been used for 2,000 years to be preached, to win the loss, to establish churches all over the world. The unstoppable power of the Word of God. All right, Roman numeral II, still reviewing, we talked about the unquenchable motivation, find my notes here, the unquenchable motivation of being glory of God focused. I'm going to look here until I find this page in my notes.

Please forgive me. There it is. This is something that I glean from this text, but I also find reinforcement for my viewpoint in the balance of the Apostle Paul's teaching. In verse 10 he says, For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that's the elect church, so they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it eternal glory. Now notice he throws glory in there, this eternal glory. Now that's the glory the church will have, certainly that's the immediate context, but our glory is Christ's glory and Christ's glory is our glory.

Can't separate the head from the body. He's the head, we're the body of the church. Can't separate the groom from the bride, he's the groom, we're the bride the Bible tells us. So he's saying there's this great glory that's coming. I'm going to talk a little bit more in a moment, listen to me about how it's all about worship. Everything that is is about worship.

We'll talk to you about that in a moment. And that's what Paul's saying here, there's going to be a glorious worship event at the end of time when we the church are glorified with Christ Jesus, and we'll all enter that eternal state together, and God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will be worshiped and adored, but we also will share in their glory. And Paul said winning the lost, but also knowing that I get to get in on the preparations for that glorious eternal state, that keeps me going, that pushes me forward and motivates me. And by the way, I'm convinced as a church leader that there's nothing that will keep you to the task as having a glory of God focus. That God wants to be made much of, God wants there to be much expounded about his power, his beauty, his wisdom, and that the gospel, building the churches, building up the churches, and then finally the church's ultimate in eternal state condition will all be a continuum and an increasing of bringing glory to God, and again a glory we get to share in. One of the ways to view glory is just that simple phrase I just used, to make much of, but also to be accurate. You can make much of something and not tell the truth about it, but when we make much of God, we don't tell the truth about who God is and make much of it. And there's coming a day in the eternal state when everything that is will always make much of the one true God. And Paul said that's coming, and the church is the centerpiece, as I used the metaphor, the illustration last week, that when Jesus yields up the kingdom to God the Father, as he taught in 1 Corinthians, that the crown jewel of the kingdom is the elect church, we will be glorified unto his own glory. And Paul said that end point, that conclusion is what drives me and keeps me going.

All right, new material now. Roman numeral three, the unthoughtable purpose of Jesus Christ. The unthoughtable purpose of Jesus Christ. Now here we see this in verses 11 through 13, and scholars believe that this is likely part of an early church hymn, that this was actually sung in the churches and probably with some other verses with it.

And I think that's probable, we don't know exactly, but that's probable. And so he makes some basic statements here about what we are as Christians, and the Christians would sing this, if you will, to admonish and encourage one another. Now when he comes out with a phrase, it's a trustworthy statement in verse 11, he means this is true. Now listen to me, this is true for us, the church, but the things we're about to sing or say that's true is not even understandable. It's not intelligible to the unredeemed culture. They won't get it. They can't see it. But we grasp something that is absolutely true, though the world would call us crazy for embracing it.

All right, let's look at it together. In verse one he says, for if we died with him, so there you lost the culture immediately, they don't want to die, all they've got is this earth. The unredeemed world doesn't want to think about death and what's on the other side because their God and their world and all that they have is the here and now.

But for Christians to the world we're strange. If we died with him. Now the word died here is an aorist tense which has the idea of finished action with continuing results. But I agree with the scholars who say though it's an aorist tense it also includes the fact that we continually die. We continually strive toward this death with Christ.

What do we mean by this? It means that we die to the values that this world holds. We die to the temporal sin-centered purposes of this present world. We die to the kind of patterns and habits that this world embraces to achieve those sin-centered purposes. We're not saying we're perfect at this but once we're converted we gained a new purpose and pattern of learning to die to the things we can't keep.

To gain those things we cannot lose. That's why the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 10, I carry about in my body the dying of Jesus. I'm continuingly and Paul also said I die daily. And so as Christians when we made our profession of faith through believers baptism we joined a group of people who are all saying together we're striving to die to this world as being our end our goal or even our highest pleasures.

We can enjoy some stuff down here that's not all sin but in our heart of hearts we live for the ultimate pleasures of God and his purposes and his patterns for our life. Then he says in verse 11 we die but we also live with him. We live with him and I think that has the idea of his abundant life now Christ lives in us now but it also includes the eternal life that we will share with him forever and ever and ever in the eternal state. Now, now to verse 12 again these things would be paradoxical to the world they would be rejected by the world. He says if we endure we will also reign with him.

Endure again has the idea of suffering persecution bearing up under we keep on going though we're under this persecution. Then he says if we're that kind of people the kind of people that says it may cause trouble and it may cause heartache it may cause being unpopular in the community but we are those people who will stay true to Christ and we'll carry on forward in enduring that. That's the kind of people Christians are and then we know we will reign with him. Glory keeps coming out this glorious future state when one day not only will we be in heaven we'll be part of reigning in heaven.

I don't know all that that means. I do know the bible talks about the apostles having thrones with Jesus in heaven but it does mean it's going to be a wonderful wonderful eternity for those who know Jesus Christ. So one thought is that the sufferings we're enduring are the forerunners of our eternal glory. The sufferings of this present life this pilgrimage are the birth pangs of glory. Now what's become popular in Christendom and actually it happens in every generation we certainly got plenty of the false teaching in our day and that is this that you as a Christian God wants you to have heaven now and heaven later too. Now the old Puritans used to say it that way so many people want heaven now and then they want heaven later too. Well God sometimes in his providence gives us a blessed life and maybe not so much persecution and things are going pretty well overall but we have to be ready like the apostle Paul he may stay in Philemon's house well-to-do man probably was very comfortable had the best of everything he may stay at Lydia's house a very wealthy lady who loved him dearly and probably served him and gave him the best of everything but then the next week he may stay in Caesar's house that means the dungeon below Caesar's palace that means prison whatever the will of God called for whatever it means that that's what we're about so we know if we endure that reality and live that out faithfully we're those who will also reign with our Christ in that eternal glory he is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose it's basically what Paul is saying we may give up some of the so-called pleasures of this world but we've been given the capacity to see that those pleasures are hollow on the inside there's no real substance to them they're lies are you listening to me church the pleasures of this world that dishonor God that go against the teaching to the word of God are lies they're false pleasures we're increasingly tasting the pleasures of God and we'll taste them in the full and in future eternity and we will reign with him in that unending the unending true pleasures of the eternal state so we go on to verse 12 and he says um our last second part of verse 12 i should say if we deny him he will also deny us now there's a warning here this should trouble us a little bit i do believe the main intent here when he says if we deny him is the idea that we are totally rejecting or we're rejecting Christ altogether it's a it's a firm apostasy we disown Christ and who reject him we've had some so-called popular Christian leaders in the last couple of three years who've come out and said they no longer are Christians they no longer uh accept Christianity our Christ now listen to what i'm going to tell you 100 of the time there's one reason for that they love sin it's not because they intellectually discovered some great new insight that showed them that Christ wasn't real no it's because they kept indulging look you don't you don't um uh uh just jump into apostasy apostasy you slide into apostasy and they started sliding a long time ago embracing sin and finally they realized i want to just wallow and indulge and treasure this sin and i know i can't do that as a Christian it's always a deep possessive stronghold of sin that leads a man to apostasy i think that's the idea here and when he says if we deny him it doesn't mean we specifically as Christians it means anybody who is an an absolute apostate rejecter of Christ will be one that Christ himself will also deny Jesus said in Matthew 10 33 but whoever denies me before men i will also deny him before my father who are in heaven but there are those within the church there are those within the local church family who fall away and end up being out and out deniers of Christ in the faith these are those who don't last and it's very interesting that very often these folks make a big splash in the early years but as time goes on they depart the faith altogether dr rogers used to say that the faith that fizzles toward the finish was faulty at the first it's just found out at the finished then he moves on he says christ will deny those who out now deny him and then i think we're back to an idea that has or rather the idea that Christians can fall into an unfaithful season hopefully it's a day hopefully it's not months verse 13 if we are faithless he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself scholars don't know for sure i don't know for sure but i think the idea here here perhaps is like the apostle peter on the night that jesus was betrayed and arrested peter finds himself in the dark of the garden denying his lord three times he was unfaithful in that season but even though peter denied the lord three times and even though a true child of god may deny the lord in a sense and be unfaithful he will never fall head long into altogether rejecting the lord he'll never find himself in a long season of unfaithfulness this much is true and this much cannot be debated and that is the last half of verse 13 which is where i will camp for the rest of my time if we are faithless here it is he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself there is a sense in which in our weakest moment our faith can be strongest because there's a sense in which in our weakest moment we crowd and say oh god that's just like me that's just what i am that's just what i'm capable of but my trust is not in my ability to be faithful but in your faithfulness to me are you with me church sometimes perhaps god lets you fall to remind you of just what you are apart from him i think that's part of what peter found out peter was sincere when he said i'll i'll die for you and just a little while later he's denying lord three times i think the lord was saying see peter here's what you are in your strength but no matter what he will not be unfaithful to us now i'd strongly agree with the the brothers who interpret this text to be saying in a broader way this truth here that part of what paul is getting over to timothy should i say maybe the the foundational thing the main thing paul is getting over to timothy is timothy listen it doesn't matter how many homogenies and vigillises there are out there who who forsake us it doesn't matter how many people apostatize it doesn't matter if it's down to just you and i it doesn't matter how many christians might fall into a season of unfaithfulness here's what you need to know that will not alter the purpose of jesus christ from being accomplished that's what he's saying the unthinkable purpose of christ is what we're talking about here he said he's going to be faithful to the commission his heavenly father gave him and he will perfect and complete all his purpose to the end of the age now here's a key cross reference that buys into that truth very strongly it is high in his one of his his priestly prayers is perhaps not the high priestly prayer um i'm sorry this is not a prayer this is a pronouncement all that the father gives me john 6 37 39 guys all that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me i will certainly not cast out notice the certainty of his purpose being fulfilled if the father gave them to me they'll come to me and i will not cast them out verse 38 for i've come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me of all that he has given me i lose nothing that means his purpose is an unwardable purpose he's not going to lose anything no notice and he's even even over all of time and into eternity he doesn't lose a thing he set out to accomplish then he says the last phrase but raise it up on the last day and on that last day all of those he's saved and all of those he's kept and all of those he's brought into the eternal state they will give him glory honor and praise forever and ever because it's all about worship listen the purpose of god is to the end of god being fully and properly worshipped honored praised glorified purpose of god is not about keeping people out of hell not primarily purpose of god is that god will be worshipped as he ought to be worshipped and that purpose is unthoughtable no matter what happens timothy no matter what happens timothy no matter how hard it gets that will not be thwarted at all all is coming to that end think about it folks his reputation is as the christ is on the line to keep all of those whom the father has given him the glory and honor and praise of the godhead is on the line all that every was all that is and all that will ever be is providentially orchestrated down to the minutiae of detail to the end of god's glory and honor and praise his worship did you hear me what's happening at mussel shows high school what's happening with this pandemic down to the tiniest minutiae of detail is all being perfectly orchestrated so that the purpose of jesus christ is perfectly fulfilled it will not be thwarted timothy grab hold of that and that'll keep you strong when it's when there's a difficult day let me illustrate as i've said to you many times the most passionate thing about god is his own worship his own glory his own honor and his own praise now follow with me this is why rebels in the earth those that reject god live to establish their own glory their own honor and their own praise that is they live so that they might be worshipped that's what a rebel does i don't want to honor praise and glorify and worship god i'll be my own god and i'll get the glory honor and praise and worship myself isn't that what satan did satan in his pride was jealous of god that was his downfall he wanted to be like god he wanted the glory and honor and praise i either worship to come unto him that god only deserves god and god alone deserves it and this is why he tempted eve in the garden with this lie eve has god said in other words he doesn't god really want you to eat of that tree and have the knowledge of good and evil i mean i mean god didn't really say it that way he he uses god's word with a twist be careful put a little twist a little spin on god's word to make it work out for us and our glory and honor and praise and then satan says eve god no here's the problem eve here's satan satan talking to eve eve god knows that when you eat of that you will be like god you know you can amplify that and say this you'll be your own god you can decide good and evil you can take the place of god for your life and be god it's been around forever and it really is all about worship eve god doesn't didn't really want your competition because he knows if you eat of this tree you'll be god and you can be your own god you can decide for yourself good and evil and this is the foundation of man's problem for all of time he wants to be his own god and usurp the glory and honor and praise that belongs to the one and only true god that's why in our culture today we're hearing these people say well my truth is this well my truth is that well they're saying i'm my own god there's no objective god out there that gives us truth that we have to discover through nature and through his word why we can decide ourselves i'll establish my own truth and then i will deserve the glory and the honor and praise for how wise and wonderful i am for establishing my own truth for me i'll decide my gender i'll decide my sexuality i will define what is good and i will define what is bad i will define what is right and i will define what is wrong i'll be god and here's what they say next and all of you must celebrate me all of you must praise me because i've decided i'll be god so they end up calling that which god calls good evil and they end up calling what god calls evil good isaiah 5 20 and 21 woe to those who call evil good and good evil who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter woe to those who are wise in their own eyes in other words they don't say god you are the only true and wise one and i will bow to you no they stand up and say i am wise and i am clear what it's about worship so honor me glorify me praise me i've become god that's what's going on in our culture it always has been well the prophet said woe to you when you do that woe is the idea of sorrow and despair is yours because you have become the marked out object of god's judgment brothers and sisters when you see that spirit in our age it you are you god is identifying before you those who are under his judgment are you hearing me the fact that they can from their heart think good is evil and evil is good is a mark that god has already led them into delusion to believe those things which are not true romans 1 22 says professing to be wise they become as fools ah we're wise we don't need god we can be our own god romans 1 26 says accompanied with this viewpoint god gives them over to degrading passions first they turned away from god and said we'll be our own god we'll worship us we'll worship ourselves then god turns himself and his protective care away from them and he leaves them to their own selves their own depraved hearts and reprobate minds i would like to say i think it is true though god turns them over god doesn't necessarily give up on them you've had in our church numerous people who come out of those lifestyles who have repented and come to christ i would say to you as far as our perspective as long as a person is breathing there's still hope amen there's still hope why because they don't say themselves god saves them and god is mighty to save there's always hope always hope degrading passions god gave them over romans 1 26 to degrading passions means vile shameful disgraceful passions but remember what's behind all of this it's worship they decided as satan told eve you can be your own god you're your own creator you can create yourself a man if you're a woman you can create yourself a woman if you're a man it's all about worship look at me i'm god i'm creating this stuff you can divine good as bad you cannot define bad as good for yourself and thus exalt yourself as worthy of glory and honor and praise as worthy of worship now as far as worship goes how successful is this whole movement going to be it's been going on since adam and eve sinned in the garden of eden this thing of rejecting god and establishing yourself as god this thing of saying i want the worship i want the glory and honor and praise and by the way he has a side note though we should point out the perversions of our present culture the christian who decides i'll be the kind of husband i want to be instead of what god says you're saying i'll be god i'll be the kind of wife i want to be instead of what god says you're calling yourself god so before we condemn the world let's realize we're repenting sinners down here struggling to be pleasing to god amen we have the residual of this in our own system but thank god one day as paul said wretched man that i am who would deliver me from this body of death who will get this out of me once and for all he says praise be to god christ jesus our lord will i'll be so glad when god cleans you guys up cleans me up gets rid of the remnants of pollution and rebellion and ungodliness and by the way he's faithful to achieve it he'll get it done some of you he's going to get more of it done while you're here and it's going to be painful because you're contrary i know a little bit about that but he'll get it all done in glory it'll be glorious for us so how successful is this going to be well let me say this to you it's going to be 100 successful at achieving christ's unthoughtable purpose of bringing all glory and honor and praise to himself you say well how's that gonna how's that how's he going to get glory and honor and praise from all these types of people well these rebels who do not repent and turn to christ will come to eternal judgment and for all eternity they will experience the nearness of god you see god goes to hell god abides in hell but he's not there in his love he's not there in his grace and his kindness he's in hell in his wrath in his retribution and in his judgment and he goes there to torment and judgment the ungodly and there in hell for eternity god will receive glory and honor and praise i.e worship for the righteousness of his judgment against the rebel so they're going to perfectly bring him worship not one tiny smidgen of his purpose will be thwarted because his purpose is worship and in that day jesus will say to it that every chosen vessel of mercy will be glorified with him in the eternal state and god will from them receive glory and honor and praise for the power the beauty and the perfection of his love and grace that saved them and secured them unto eternal glory so every bit of the purpose of christ will be fulfilled every single being will powerfully continually bring glory and honor and praise and worship to god the father god the son and god the holy spirit and that was the purpose of jesus christ to bring about worship he said boy you left the text and went all over the place no i didn't verse 13 our last verse if we are faithless he remains faithful faithful to what well faithful to these ends two thoughts here about this faithfulness because he cannot deny himself you're going to make it all the way through timothy to glorification so don't don't don't lose heart in this temporal season of warfare and work and persecution you're going to make it all the way through because he can't deny himself you're one with him when you're saved you become in christ and christ gets in you and you're down here and christ is in you and up in heaven you're already in christ and then as you grow and are sanctified down here he's trying to improve that christ is not only in you but you become more like him and then one day in heaven is fully completed because he can't deny himself if one elect child of god ends up in hell jesus spelled his purpose timothy it can't happen no matter who's unfaithful on the earth his purpose will remain because he's faithful you can't miss glorification because you are in him and he cannot deny himself secondly i would like to amplify with the balance of biblical truth helping me come to this conclusion that he cannot decide deny himself the glory the honor the praise i either worship that he's ordained for himself before the world was and it is inherently proper for him to receive the glory the honor and the praise and he's the only one but here's the most unbelievable thought we can grasp that there's only one being who inherently is worthy of all glory not in praise and that's god but somehow in the beauty the power and the wisdom of god he sent his son to the earth to die for the children through time and space history the gospels preached the spirit works we come to repentance and faith in jesus christ and we become one in christ and in some magnificent magnanimous way in all eternity we too in christ will share in the glory honor and praise i'm not suggesting that's god's like the mormons teach but because we're in christ i mean anytime you honor me you honor pam we're one but the oneness of human marriage down here is not even to be compared with the oneness of us in christ so the inherent praise that god deserves by his very being will be sloshed over and wrapped all around us too just glory upon glory because by the way it's all about worship and god said um do you vow foolish rebellious acts in the earth call yourself god decide for yourself what's good bad right make your own rules just be god you know what i'm going to do you're still going to glorify me you'll just do it in hell but you'll glorify me for all eternity i'm going to be worshipped by you in the sense that the judgment on you in hell will be bring worship to the holiness of my just righteousness that's against you jesus said in john 12 27 and 28 now my soul has become troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour so he he's he in his humanity he's wrestling with the cross event we can't enter into all that that meant but look at the rest of verse 27 but for this purpose i came to this hour in other words the purpose of christ whatever it meant for christ he willingly did it all he said i'll go to this hour i'll face this thing so the purpose is completely fulfilled for this purpose i came to this hour what is the purpose father glorify your name it's all about worship father glorify your name well i could just absolutely run through the back wall and the father says how does he say it i have both glorified it and you just wait son i'm gonna glorify it again i think he's saying i'm glorifying myself in the earth right now and building my church but you wait till we get to the eternal state and it's going to be glory upon glory upon glory timothy don't stop don't quit don't back up don't compromise don't give in it's worth it it's absolutely worth it you who believed on christ in our text the chosen ones cannot be lost you will make it to heaven and to eternity because you making it to heaven and eternity is central to god's own purpose to glorify and honor and praise himself or to bring glory honor and praise to himself timothy we are faithless he remains faithful or he cannot deny himself