It is a faithful saying, for
if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we suffer,
we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will
deny us. If we believe not, yet He abideth
faithful. He cannot deny Himself. Of these
things put them in remembrance. charging them before the Lord
that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting
of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they
will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as death
a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already, and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity. I want to speak to us from these
verses today on three subjects. Now, it's not possible to deal
with everything in a passage of Scripture because this is
the Word of God, and the Word of God is full. So I've just
chosen these three things for us to look at today. First, a
faithful saying. Notice that in verse 11. This
is a faithful saying. Now this is the fourth time in
Paul's letters that he wrote, this is a faithful saying. And when you look at them, sometimes
it is very apparent that what he calls a faithful saying is
what follows. But at other times, a faithful
saying is what preceded Let us look at two of these examples. If you turn back just a few pages
to 1st Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15, this is the first of
these four faithful sayings. But here in 1st Timothy chapter
1 and verse 15, he wrote, this is a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation. that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. This, this is a faithful
saying. Why did Christ come into the
world? This is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. He came on purpose to save sinners. He said this, he said in Luke
chapter 19 and verse 10, For the Son of Man, speaking of Himself,
is come both to seek and to save that which is lost." This is
a faithful saying. Aren't you thankful? If you know
Christ today as your Lord and Savior, aren't you thankful?
Don't you rejoice in this faithful saying that Christ Jesus came
into this world on purpose to save sinners? So we see here
in this first faithful saying that the faithful saying follows. But I want you to look in chapter
number four in 1 Timothy, and the faithful saying precedes
that statement. 1 Timothy chapter four and verse
nine, he said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Now the faithful saying precedes
that. The faithful saying is not, for
therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, but the faithful saying
is in verse eight, for bodily exercise profiteth little, but
godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of
the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Now, you know, when the apostle
said here, for bodily exercise profiteth nothing or little,
he's not talking about exercise like some of you, I suppose,
do. Cardiovascular exercise and things like that. But he's talking
about in the worship service, that which is done by the body,
that is presenting yourself, maybe bowing down, standing up,
singing, all of these things that we do physically, that bodily
exercise profiteth little, but notice godliness, that is the
true worship of God, worshiping God in spirit and in truth. It's not enough that we just
come on Sunday mornings and say, well, it's 15 to 10, it's time
to be in the worship service and present our bodies here and
our minds are off somewhere else. Bodily exercise profiteth little,
but godliness, true worship of God. Our Lord said, God is spirit
and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth. Not in bodily exercise, but in
spirit and in truth. So that's the faithful saying.
But here in our text this morning, back in 2 Timothy chapter 2, as I've looked at this, it seems
to me that the faithful saying in this text could precede or
follow. If you notice what preceded this,
in verse 11, he said, it is a faithful saint. What preceded that? Well, in verse 10, he said, therefore,
I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This
is a faithful saint. That is, the Apostle Paul, he
endured all things for the elect's sake. that they might obtain,
notice that, that they might obtain the salvation which is
in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Salvation is in Christ
Jesus. Salvation is in a person. Salvation is not in a plan. It is not in three steps and
a prayer. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He came to save sinners. He did
everything that God requires in the saving of a sinner. That they may obtain. Paul said,
I endure all things. He suffered as an equal doer.
He was in prison. He suffered all kinds of hardships. I was reading this past week. the life of Ann Judson, the first
wife of Adoniram Judson. And when you read what she suffered
and what he suffered in taking the gospel to Burma, early 1700s,
the suffering that they endured there. Why would a person do
that? Why would a man take his wife
and him buried two small children there in that foreign land. Just
what the Apostle Paul said here. That they, that it was just God's
elect there in Burma, and he was convinced that God had some
people there, and God sent him there, endured all things for
the elect's sake that they might obtain salvation which is in
Christ Jesus. And if you will, look back just
a few pages to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I'd like to make this
point when I speak about the elect's sake that, as the Apostle
Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 13 and 14, But we are
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. He chose you to obtain salvation,
but notice, through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. The end is the salvation, the
means to the end. God has ordained that just as
much as he has ordained the end. He's ordained the means, the
sanctification of the spirit, that is the quickening, the new
birth, and belief of the truth, trusting in Christ, believing
in Christ. Election is not salvation, election
is unto salvation. And so Paul said, I endure all
things for the sake of the elects, that they may obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. with eternal glory. Think about that eternal glory.
That glory that is waiting for each and every one of us who
know him today. When we close our eyes in death
in this world, and it's going to happen sooner or later for
all of us, but when we do, we open them in eternal glory. And I tell you, friends, we cannot
even begin to imagine what that glory is going to be. That God
has prepared for them that love Him and love His Son. But notice what follows this
faithful saying. And this is the way we're going
to look at it this morning. This is a faithful saying. If
we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we suffer,
we shall also reign with Him. If we deny him, he also will
deny us if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful. This is
a faithful saying. He cannot deny himself. What he writes about death and
life, death always before life, suffering and reigning, suffering
always before reigning, denying Christ, and being denied by Christ. This is a faithful saying. He
cannot deny himself. Now, as you look at these verses,
where he said, for if we be dead with him. The Bible teaches that there
is a mystical union between Christ and all of his people, a mystical
union. And that word mystical comes
from the word mystery. It's a mysterious thing. But
Christ is the head of his body. Look back to Ephesians chapter
5 just a moment. Ephesians chapter 5. And I'm not going to read all
of these verses, which began in verse 22, to the end of this
chapter. But in these verses, the Apostle
Paul is commenting upon the husband and the wife, the relationship
between the two. And the first thing I want to
point out is in verse 23, he says, for the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and
he is the savior of the body. In a marriage, the husband is
the head of his wife, and this is a picture of the mystical
union which exists between Christ and his body. And in chapter
one of Ephesians, he says his body is his church or his church
is his body. There's a union which exists
just like your body. There's a union between your
head and all the other members. And so Christ is the head of
his body, the church, and there's a union between him and each
one of his members, a mystical union. But notice also, if you
will, in verse 28, how he emphasizes this. He says, so ought men to
love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife
loveth himself. Now, the only way possible that
loving your wife is loving yourself is the fact that you two are
one. You are one. And isn't that what
we read in Genesis chapter 2 when God created Eve and presented
her to Adam to be his wife? The scripture there says they
too shall be one flesh, one body. And so when a man loves his wife,
he's loving himself. Why? Because they are one. There's a union. There's a union. Just as there's a union between
Christ and His body, the church, there's a union. And then look
down further there to verse 30. Ephesians 5 and verse 30. For we are members of His body,
of His flesh, and of His bones. And then in verse 32, this is
a great mystery. It is, isn't it? It's a great
mystery. You can't see it. It's a mystery. There's a union which exists
between Christ and His church, which is His body. If you look back to our text
now, This is the way that those who know Christ as their Lord
and Savior are dead with Him. This is a faithful saying. For
if we be dead with Him, how is it that we are dead with Him? In a legal, representative sense,
when He died, we died. That is, all of us who know Him
as our Lord and Savior. And let me say this here. Please
listen to what I'm going to say. How does a person, how may a
person know? We read about this union which
is mystical, can't be seen. It's revealed in the word of
God. But how is it possible for a person to know that he is in
union, she is in union with Christ? There's also what the theologians
have called a vital union. A vital union. And that is we
are in him, Faith, we're in Him this morning by faith, by trusting
in Him. And if we believe in Him as our
Lord and Savior, just as the branch is in the vine, so we
are in union with Christ. He's our head and we are members
of His body. And when He died on the cross,
we died. Legally, representatively, when
He was buried, we were buried. When he rose from the grave,
we rose from the grave. When he took his seat at the
Father's right hand, we too are seated in the heavenlies in Christ. Now that's what the scriptures
reveal. A mystical union, yes. So much so the apostle Paul said,
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I. But Christ liveth in me, and
the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. This
is the way that we suffer with him. Notice he said, for if we
be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer,
we shall also reign with him. We must recognize that having
suffered, having died, and having risen in our representative doesn't
mean, doesn't mean that we are not called upon to die daily. We are a new creation. Those of us who know him, we
have a new life. But that old man, the flesh,
as it's called, the body of sin, still continues with us. And
so the body of sin, the deeds of the body, are to be mortified. Anything and everything that
hinders our relationship, our fellowship, our communion with
Christ, we must shun that. We must turn from that. We must
put that to death. And God's people, yes, we do
confess Christ. We confess Christ and we confess
His gospel. And this many times brings reproach
and brings suffering. And some, it has even brought
death. But remember this, if we deny
Him, He also will deny us. He said that, if you look at
this verse in Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12, verses 8 and
9. These are the words of the Lord.
Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men,
him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of
God. Have you ever confessed Christ
before men? One of the first ways that we
confess Christ before men is in baptism. Our Lord said, go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. When we are baptized,
we are confessing Christ. We are confessing that our salvation,
the gospel we believe, is pictured in baptism. as a person is put
under the water. So we died with Christ, but we've
been raised and we've been raised to walk in a new way, a new life
that has been given unto us. And our Lord goes on there to
say, but he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the
angels of God. We confess Christ. This is a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. When I thought
about this, about confessing Christ, I thought about the English
martyr, Thomas Cramer. He was the first Protestant bishop
of Canterbury in the Church of England. And during the reign
of Edward, he was well thought of. But when Mary, Edward's sister,
half-sister, came to the throne, she's called Bloody Mary in the
history of England, then Bishop Kramer, Archbishop Kramer was
arrested. And in his interrogation, he
denied the faith. He denied Christ. He denied the
gospel that he had confessed. And so his accusers, they had
him publicly to come and make his denial. But what they didn't
realize, God had been working in his heart. And he realized
he could not deny Christ. He had denied Christ, but when
he was given the opportunity publicly to deny Christ again,
he denied his denial. He recanted his recantation. And he held up his hand, his
hand with which he had written out that denial at first. And
he said, this is going in the fire first. This is going in
the fire first, and sure enough, that's where he and his hand
ended up. They were burned at the stake
in 1556. If you deny me, the Lord said, I also will deny you. All right, that's the first subject,
a faithful saint. Let's look at the second subject,
a true workman in verses 15 through 18. Paul, writing to Timothy,
studied to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The work of
a preacher, and that's what Timothy was, he was an evangelist. The
work of a preacher concerns the word of truth. The word of truth. Study the word of truth. in order, Timothy, that you may
rightly divide it with this one goal in mind, that you may be
approved of God. Your concern is not to be approved
by the men of this world. Your concern is not to be approved
by a deacon board or by any denominational hierarchy or anything like that. But your one concern is you study
the word of God that you may rightly divide it and be approved
of God. We live in a day, as one writer
said, when men are concerned about the three E's. The three
E's. Excitement. Entertainment. and experience. No, we have the
objective Word of God, the written Word of God. Study a true workman. This must be your ministry. You know, the work of the ministry
is a work for which no man is naturally sufficient. Sometimes
people think, well, you know, he'd make a good preacher. He's
got such a good personality and he's able to speak well and able
to communicate good. Natural sufficiency is not what
God uses. No man, no man, in and of himself,
is sufficient for the gospel ministry. Paul said we are a
saver of life unto some. Did you know while we're studying
here today, some of you, you are receiving the word of God
and it is a saver of life unto you, but others, no doubt, it's
a saver of death unto you. You hear the same word, but apart
from the blessing of God, it's a saver of death unto you. And
Paul said, who is sufficient for such things? No man in and of himself is. You know, the ascended Lord Jesus
Christ, Paul says in Ephesians 4, He ascended and He gave gifts
unto men. What are those gifts that He
gave unto men? He gave some apostles, some prophets,
some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting
of the saints, that is for the edifying, the building up of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for edifying the body
of Christ. One requirement of every workman,
every pastor, preacher, one requirement of every workman is that he be
found faithful. It is required of a steward that
he be faithful. You say faithful to what? Well,
look over to chapter four here in 2 Timothy and verse one. I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Preach the word. You've got God's
word here. People say, well, I've already
heard it. You need to hear it again. We forget. We forget. The truth runs through our minds
like through a colander or something. It really does. We need to be
reminded. We need to hear. Preach the word,
Timothy. A workman, a good workman. This
is what is required that he study. When the early church there in
the book of Acts, you know, the, the disciples multiplied and
there were widows who needed help and the church would help
them. But they came to the apostles and the apostle said, seek ye
out seven faithful men and let them be in charge of that work.
Now we call those men deacons. Although that word is not used
there in that passage, but the apostles said that we may give
ourselves to prayer and to the word of God. Now here's the last
subject, a sure foundation. Verse 19, a sure foundation. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure. Now, this nevertheless comes
after he said that there were two men who had denied the resurrection. He names them. Now, to deny the
resurrection, men loved that. I mean, if you want to build
a big church, just deny the resurrection. Why? Because if men reason like
this, wicked men reason like this, well, if there's not going
to be a resurrection, that means there's not going to be a judgment.
And I like that. I'll just continue on in my sin,
in my wickedness, because there's not going to be a judgment. Well,
Paul said that these two men, they denied. They said the resurrection
was passed already. But notice, and overthrew the
faith of some. Nevertheless, nevertheless, the
foundation of God standeth sure. Any faith that may be overthrown
is not the faith that the Apostle Paul calls the faith of the operation
of God. What does he mean by that? Men
don't have faith, saving faith, naturally. The Bible says that. All men have not faith. Most
people, if you went to 99% of the churches today in Houston,
Texas, and you were to ask the members in those churches, do
all men have faith? They would say, sure, everybody
has faith. Everybody has faith. And that's
the reason we preach like we do. We're just trying to get
men to exercise their faith. They already have it. All they
need to do is exercise it now. Their free will, make their choice,
make their decision. That's all we need to do. Why?
Because everyone has faith. That's a lie. That's a lie. And then they illustrate it by
setting down in a chair as though that were equivalent to the faith
of God's elect. Not so, my friends. The faith
of God's elect, the faith of God's operation is a faith that
He works in His people. Faith is a gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. How does God give faith? Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. I can't explain it, and neither
can anyone else. You can't explain it. You who
believe in Christ today, you can't explain how you came to
have faith. You just know you did. You do. Why? Because God is the one who
worketh in you both the will and the do of his good pleasure. Any faith that may be overthrown
is a faith that does not have Christ as its object. And true
faith cannot be overthrown by persecution. It cannot be overthrown
by Satan. It cannot be overthrown by anyone. Why? Because true faith is a
gift of God. Remember this in closing. Peter. What did our Lord tell Peter
before he was tempted? He said, I have prayed for thee
that thy faith faileth not. Did Peter's faith fail? Of course
not. Why? Christ was praying for him. Christ is praying for all of
his people. He's praying for you today. He
ever lives to make intercession for all who come unto God by
Him. Listen, our faith would be overthrown if it were not
for the grace of God, the power of God, the work of God, the
Holy Spirit, the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
faith would be overthrown a hundred times a day. But it isn't if you're one of
His. It isn't. Faith. The foundation of God stands
sure. God knows his. I was watching
something on the channel, uh, National Geographic channel and
these Willoughbys, I believe. I mean, they're, they're making
their, their pilgrimage. They don't call it that. They're
migration, you know, and they have to cross rivers and here
comes these little calves. And they're all mixed up out
there running 500, 1,000, I don't know. They all look the same,
don't they? They do to me. And somehow that
mother cow, when she gets across that river and her calf is trying
to get up the embankment, she knows that's her calf. And she's
not going on. God knows his people. He knows
his people because he chose his people, because he loves his
people, because he redeemed his people, and because he gave his
people to Christ as sheep to the shepherd. And the Lord Jesus
Christ said, no one is able to pluck one of them out of my hand.
The foundation of God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth them that
are his. May the Lord bless this word
to all of us here today. I want us to sing a couple of
verses of 269, hymn number 269, and then we'll be dismissed. Before we start singing, let
me ask you, Christ came to save sinners. Are you saved? Has he
saved you? Has he worked a work of grace
in your heart? Do you trust in him today? Do
you believe in him? Then confess him. If you've never
done that, confess Christ. Identify with Christ and with
his church and with his gospel. Speak to me about being baptized. Confess Christ. Let me ask those of you who are
here today and you've confessed Christ in baptism, would you
do that again? You've done it once, would you
do that again if you were in that position again? Would you
confess Christ again? Wouldn't that be your joy and
desire to confess him again? Absolutely. And I was as scared
as scared can be to go up in front of that church and confess
Christ and then follow in baptism. But you know, I did it. I wanted
to do it. I had a desire to do it. Why? Because I loved Christ and his
gospel. Amen?