Keep Running The Race Series

BIG IDEA:

2 MOTIVATIONS FOR PERSERVERENCE IN THE FAITH AND IN THE

GOSPEL MINISTRY

I. (:8-10) KEEP RUNNING THE RACE BECAUSE OUR TESTIMONY IMPACTS THE SALVATION OF GOD’S ELECT

A. (:8) Encouragement from the Promise Fulfilled = the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

The Resurrection of Christ lies at the heart of the gospel message – “according to my gospel”

1. “Jesus Christ” – the historical Messiah; Saviour

2. “risen from the dead” – the heart of the gospel; Truth of the Resurrection;

Divinity; Lord

3. “descendant of David” – the seed of Promise; Truth of the Incarnation;

Humanity; King (Luke 1:32-33)

Stott: “death is the gateway to life and suffering the path to glory. For he who died rose from the dead, and he who was born in lowliness as David’s seed is now reigning in glory on David’s throne. Both expressions set forth in embryonic form the contrast between humiliation and exaltation.”

B. (:9-10) Encouragement from the Power Potential = the Unleashing of the Word of God to accomplish Salvation

1. (:9) Enduring Unfair Hardship in light of the Power Potential of the Word of God

a. “for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal”

b. “but the word of God is not imprisoned” = Key thought here

cf. Phil. 1:12-18 circumstances turned out rather for the spread of the gospel

2. (:10) Enduring Unfair Hardship for the sake of the Elect

“For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with

it eternal glory.”

Campbell: Paul uses this word (the elect) a total of six times in his epistles. Five times.he uses it to designate Divinely selected believers (Rom.. 8:33; 16:13; Col. 3:12; 2 Tim. 2:10; Titus 1:1). He uses it once with reference to elect angels (1 Tim. 5:21).”

Stott: “Paul’s statement that in some sense the salvation of others is secured by his sufferings may at first astonish us. Yet it is so. Not of course that his sufferings have any redemptive efficacy like Christ’s, but that the elect are saved through the gospel and that he could not preach the gospel without suffering for it.”

II. (:11-13) KEEP RUNNING THE RACE BECAUSE GOD GUARANTEES THE OUTCOME

A. God’s Guarantee to Those Who Persevere

1. LIVE WITH HIM: Resurrection life is guaranteed –

Based on union with Christ in His death and resurrection

“For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him”

2. REIGN WITH HIM: Kingdom Glory is guaranteed –

Based on perseverence

“If we endure, we shall also reign with Him”

B. God’s Guarantee to Those Who Quit

Ultimate Rejection is Guaranteed to those who ultimately deny Christ

“If we deny Him, He also will deny us”

C. God’s Guarantee Rooted in His Own Faithfulness

1. God’s Character not changed by our Character

“If we are faithless, He remains faithful”

Campbell: “This verb is in the present tense which means that Paul is speaking about those who continue and persist in a course of faithlessness. He is not

thinking about those who temporarily stumble or fall into sin, and genuinely confess it to the Lord, but he is referring to those whose lives are marked by

unbelief.”

2. God’s Character is Unchanging

“for He cannot deny Himself”

God remains true to His Word; to His Promises; to His Blessings; to His Warnings; to His Judgments

* * * * * * * * * *

DEVOTIONAL QUESTIONS:

1) Why did Timothy need to be charged to “Remember Jesus Christ”? How does the.celebration of the Lord’s Supper help us in this regard?

2) If professing Christians are unwilling to “suffer hardship” for the cause of the gospel

and in fact end up denying Christ in an ongoing fashion, do they merely lose their

reward in heaven or are they under God’s wrath and actually unsaved?

3) What encouragement do we take from the truth that the “word of God is not imprisoned”? What are some of the ways that Satan tries to fetter the Word of God?

Are we allowing God’s Word to be unleashed with power in our own lives?

4) Is the sense of “dying with Christ” in this passage the same sense as Paul talks about in Romans 6 or is it a different sense?

Download the entire 2 Timothy commentary in pdf

format (including notes on each sermon from other

commentators) from:

http://www.bibleoutlines.com

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