One Good Reason to Endure
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Title: One Good Reason to Endure
Text:
Series: Book of II Timothy
Paul is encouraging Timothy to endure on the basis that God is faithful to himself.
Question this text will answer:
What good reason do I have for taking risks for the cause of Jesus Christ?
What good reason do I have for enduring family persecution?
What good reason do I have for being patient as a farmer?
What good reason do I have for maintaining focus as a soldier?
What good reason do I have for enduring lawfully?
What good reason do I have for being a witness in my entire life?
What good reason do I have for yielding to the Spirit of God within me?
What good reason do I have for stirring up the gift of God that is in me?
Proposition:
As Christians, God’s faithfulness gives to us cause for our faithfulness. God’s faithfulness has provided motivation for our faithfulness. God’s faithfulness has given to us power for faithfulness. How has God been faithful?
What is the faithfulness of God?
What is the faithfulness of God?
The doctrine that God will always do what he has said and fulfill what he has promised. (12B.5)
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine 5. Truthfulness (and Faithfulness)
5. Truthfulness (and Faithfulness). God’s truthfulness means that he is the true God, and that all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine 5. Truthfulness (and Faithfulness)
God’s faithfulness means that God will always do what he has said and fulfill what he has promised (Num. 23:19; cf. 2 Sam. 7:28; Ps. 141:6; et al.). He can be relied upon, and he will never prove unfaithful to those who trust what he has said. Indeed, the essence of true faith is taking God at his word and relying on him to do as he has promised.
God is not a man, that he should lie;
Neither the son of man, that he should repent:
Hath he said, and shall he not do it?
Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
When their judges are overthrown in stony places,
They shall hear my words; for they are sweet.
(1) God is faithful to his word (v. 8 - 10)
(1) God is faithful to his word (v. 8 - 10)
(v. 8) - God was faithful in his prophetic word - ,
(v. 8) - God was faithful in his prophetic word - ,
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
(v. 9) - God's faithfulness shows his word to be unbound -
(v. 9) - God's faithfulness shows his word to be unbound -
(v. 9) - God's faithfulness shows his word to be unbound -
(v. 10) - God's boundless word encourages endurance
(v. 10) - God's boundless word encourages endurance
5. hupomeno (ὑπομένω, 5278), lit., “to abide under” (hupo, “under”), signifies “to remain in a place instead of leaving it, to stay behind,” e.g., ; ; or “to persevere,” ; ; ; in each of which latter it is used with the phrase “unto the end”; or “to endure bravely and trustfully,” e.g., , , suggesting endurance under what would be burdensome. See also ; ; . Cf., makrothumeo, “to be longsuffering.” See endure, suffer, take, Notes (12), tarry. Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 2). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson.
(Application):
(Application):
As an employee, you may have a temptation to wonder if you should be faithful to the testimony of Jesus Christ...
As a spouse, you may be tempted to question whether you should endure an unbelieving spouse...
As a college student, you may be tempted to to be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ....
As a child in a home full of idolatry, you may be tempted to entangle yourselves with the affairs of this life...
(2) God is faithful to himself (11 - 13)
(2) God is faithful to himself (11 - 13)
The “trustworthy saying” (v. 11) is one of five in the Pastoral Letters (see comments on ; see also 3:1; 4:9; ). The present saying is the only one that can be called poetic. - Liefeld, W. L. (1999). 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus (p. 249). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Liefeld, W. L. (1999). 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus (p. 249). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
(v. 11) God is trustworthy in salvation
(v. 11) God is trustworthy in salvation
“If we died with him” is in the aorist tense, (synapethanomen), indicating a crisis (EGT, 4:163). Paul spells this out in . It is only as we die with Christ, by identification with him in his death, that we can have spiritual life in him. “We will also live with him” does not refer to our future resurrection, but to our present life in Christ. The parallel is , . Right here and now we are to count ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” The Pauline formula is “You have to die to live.”
Earle, R. (1981). 2 Timothy. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians through Philemon (Vol. 11, p. 401). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
(v. 12) God is trustworthy in suffering - , , ,
(v. 12) God is trustworthy in suffering - , , ,
(v. 13) God is trustworthy in relation to Himself -
(v. 13) God is trustworthy in relation to Himself -
(Application):
(Application):
We must go a step further here...
If you are a child of God, your life will indeed manifest God’s faithfulness to Himself:
You will manifest tokens of your death with Christ
You will endure suffering
You will NOT live in denial of Christ
This is the wonder and the hope of the Christian - that God has implanted us with his holy seed - the Holy Spirit of God. This Holy Spirit of God is faithful to point to Jesus Christ!
This is a good test to put yourself under the microscope of God’s truth:
As an employee, do you cave in to the temptation to be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ...
As a spouse, you may be tempted to question whether you should endure an unbelieving spouse...
As a spouse, are you crushed under the weight of living with an unbelieving spouse...
As a college student, are you evidently ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ....
As a child in a home full of idolatry, you may be tempted to entangle yourselves with the affairs of this life...
As a child in a home full of idolatry, are you entangled with the affairs of this life...
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Then there are three options for you to consider:
(1) If you are a professing Christian, this means that either God is being unfaithful to himself…OR
(1) If you are a professing Christian, this means that either God is being unfaithful to himself…OR
(2) You need to be brought back again as Peter was. You must be humbled under the weight of your sin, see the sufficiency of Christ’s payment, repent and live in his forgiveness.
(2) You need to be brought back again as Peter was. You must be humbled under the weight of your sin, see the sufficiency of Christ’s payment, repent and live in his forgiveness.
(3) You are not truly a believer
(3) You are not truly a believer