WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.320 Today's reading is taken from the book of 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verses 1 to 14 and if you have your blue Bibles with you kindly open it to page 1195. 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:20.960 ! 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:50.519 Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I thank God whom I serve as my ancestors did. With a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers, recalling your tears. I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 00:00:50.520 --> 00:01:04.200 I am reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded now lives in you also. 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:22.200 For this reason, I remember you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:44.420 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel. By the power of God, he saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. 00:01:44.420 --> 00:02:02.960 This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but this is now revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:27.299 And of this gospel, I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I'm suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:47.280 What you heard from me, keep us the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:56.199 Thank you so much, Mary Chu, for reading for us. We are starting this morning, as I mentioned, a series in the book of 2 Timothy. 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:02.800 And my plan this morning, as far as I am able and as far as it's possible, is to do an overview of the whole book. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:06.280 So let's pray and ask for the Lord's help. Let me pray. 00:03:07.460 --> 00:03:13.280 Father, we do thank you that we come now to your word and not anyone else's. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:21.080 We do thank you that we get to listen to what you say and not just the good ideas of one another in the room. 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:30.340 And we pray that you might speak to us and that you might give us those kind of tender hearts which listen carefully and respond in obedience and faith. 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:33.939 And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:03:33.939 --> 00:03:34.120 Amen. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:42.199 In a book I was reading recently, it presented the following dilemma. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:46.080 Bev and Ruth, you're told, were good friends. 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:47.560 They lived near each other. 00:03:47.979 --> 00:03:49.159 They had grown up together. 00:03:49.699 --> 00:03:52.560 They were serving in church alongside one another. 00:03:53.219 --> 00:04:01.680 But then one day, Bev discovered that Ruth had spoken about her behind her back, gossiped about her. 00:04:02.199 --> 00:04:04.580 The book didn't say exactly what the gossip was. 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:09.580 But you were told that Bev was greatly upset that Ruth had spoken in such a way about her. 00:04:10.039 --> 00:04:13.099 Upset enough to confront Ruth about it. 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:14.960 So she did. 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:17.420 But it didn't go well. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:20.620 Ruth told Bev that she was being oversensitive. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:23.519 She said she had nothing to apologize for. 00:04:24.060 --> 00:04:27.879 And as you might imagine, that made things much, much worse. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:33.399 Bev was now not only offended by the fact that she considered Ruth to have gossiped against her, 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:38.899 but also was now offended by Ruth's response to being challenged about gossiping about her. 00:04:39.719 --> 00:04:40.679 So it escalated. 00:04:41.739 --> 00:04:46.060 Bev then asked the elders of the church to speak to Ruth, which they did. 00:04:46.939 --> 00:04:51.620 But having done so, they came back to Bev and told her that she was indeed being oversensitive. 00:04:51.620 --> 00:04:57.019 And that while Ruth shouldn't have spoken in the way she did, still the best thing would be just to drop it all. 00:04:57.620 --> 00:04:58.399 Just forget it. 00:04:58.740 --> 00:04:59.639 Don't make a fuss. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:06.300 Don't jeopardize the peace of the church or a lifelong friendship for what essentially is just a misunderstanding. 00:05:06.300 --> 00:05:10.060 And the book tells that story. 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:14.660 It's a mythical story, I think, but it's probably true in loads of different ways and loads of different scenarios, isn't it? 00:05:14.660 --> 00:05:17.860 But the book tells you that story because then it asks you this question. 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:20.000 What do you think Bev should do? 00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:21.819 What do you think she should do? 00:05:21.819 --> 00:05:27.099 What do you think her relationship with Ruth should look like? 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:31.399 Do you think they should continue to serve alongside one another in the life of the church? 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:34.800 Do you think Bev should raise the matter again and demand an apology? 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:39.279 Or do you think she should just drop it, go around to her friend's house and make up? 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:41.100 I wonder what you think. 00:05:43.219 --> 00:05:48.680 In the end, the story turns out to be a sort of clever trick that the author's playing on you. 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:55.199 Because having asked the reader to think about that carefully, the chapter then gives you a twist in the story. 00:05:55.980 --> 00:05:56.519 It tells you this. 00:05:56.579 --> 00:05:59.180 Again, it's a mythical story, but this is trying to get you to think. 00:05:59.280 --> 00:06:08.340 It says, some weeks later, Ruth's 10-year-old daughter, a daughter who Bev had loved and cared for and who'd been at every birthday party of, 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.819 Ruth's daughter was killed in a road traffic accident. 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:16.439 And then it says, how does that change your advice? 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:18.199 What do you say now? 00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:22.420 Do you now say that Bev should still raise the matter of the gossip? 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:27.319 Or do you think now she should drop everything, get over it, go around to her friend's house, 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.120 show her the love and the care that she needs, and drop the whole thing? 00:06:32.400 --> 00:06:34.800 And the point that the author's making is obvious, isn't it? 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:37.480 Of course, Bev should drop it, shouldn't she? 00:06:38.280 --> 00:06:44.420 The death of Ruth's daughter brings a kind of clarity to the story that was lacking before. 00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:52.680 Death, if you like, is a good teacher about what life is for and about what is important and what is not. 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:56.019 That lesson is taught often in the Bible. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:00.259 It's why the Bible says things like, teach me to number my days aright. 00:07:00.259 --> 00:07:06.039 Or you're like the grass that withers and the flowers that fall. 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:13.740 Because death and remembering death is what teaches us what life is all about and what really matters. 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:15.900 It's the perspective that we need. 00:07:15.899 --> 00:07:21.239 Now I start there because that essentially is what 2 Timothy is doing. 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:27.439 2 Timothy is like the shock of finding out that Ruth's daughter died in a church way, right? 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:35.919 It's the sit up, think hard and consider carefully, have you really thought what matters in church life? 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:41.500 And it's like that because Paul, who writes to Timothy, is dying as he writes it. 00:07:42.960 --> 00:07:45.740 Listen to how it's put in chapter 4, verses 6 and 7. 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:47.100 Paul writes, 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:52.060 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:57.120 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:05.500 Now don't imagine Paul here kind of lying in a hospital bed in his old age, surrounded by his friends and his family. 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:07.340 That's not the scenario, right? 00:08:07.420 --> 00:08:08.840 Paul is in prison. 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:10.740 You're told that in chapter 1, verse 8. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:16.040 And he's not in the prison of house arrest, which is his previous experience in Rome. 00:08:16.139 --> 00:08:20.699 Instead, now he is in some sort of obscure dungeon hidden away somewhere in the city. 00:08:20.699 --> 00:08:28.599 So that chapter 1, verses 16 and 17 tell you that a guy called Onesiphorus really struggled and had to work hard to find Paul. 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:36.240 It's a dungeon which is cold and damp, so that Paul is asking for a cloak in chapter 4, verse 13. 00:08:37.019 --> 00:08:38.100 And Paul is there. 00:08:39.059 --> 00:08:44.720 And with the exception of Onesiphorus and Luke, he is abandoned by his friends who didn't even show up to defend him. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:49.440 And so 2 Timothy is Paul's last New Testament letter. 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:51.580 It's his last recorded words. 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:57.240 And with death as his teacher, he is telling his friend Timothy, who's working in the church in Ephesus, 00:08:57.700 --> 00:08:59.440 listen, I'm a dying man. 00:09:00.060 --> 00:09:01.360 Let me tell you what really matters. 00:09:01.899 --> 00:09:03.300 Let me tell you what's really important. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.460 Now, it won't surprise you that staring death in the face, 00:09:08.660 --> 00:09:11.980 Paul does not write to Timothy about how to set the chairs out at church. 00:09:11.980 --> 00:09:14.840 He doesn't tell him what songs they should sing. 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:16.560 He doesn't tell you who should play them. 00:09:16.659 --> 00:09:18.080 He doesn't mention church rotas. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.019 He doesn't even tell you what to have for a church lunch. 00:09:21.460 --> 00:09:23.680 Not because those things don't matter, 00:09:24.379 --> 00:09:30.000 but rather because with the urgency and clarity of impending execution, 00:09:32.100 --> 00:09:33.399 Paul cares about something else. 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:37.180 He cares about passing on the message of the gospel. 00:09:39.060 --> 00:09:40.680 Just scan through this with me. 00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:42.199 Start in chapter 1, verse 1. 00:09:42.259 --> 00:09:44.120 Look down at that verse with me. 00:09:44.239 --> 00:09:48.679 Paul says he is an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 00:09:49.339 --> 00:09:52.319 In other words, Paul considers himself to be a sent one. 00:09:52.419 --> 00:09:53.579 That's what the word apostle means. 00:09:53.719 --> 00:09:55.659 It's someone who is sent. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.479 And he is sent from Christ Jesus through the will of the Father, 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:04.079 in keeping with what he calls the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. 00:10:05.139 --> 00:10:08.419 Just read the verse backwards, essentially, and I think the meaning then pops out. 00:10:08.419 --> 00:10:11.659 There is a promise of life, says Paul, in Christ Jesus. 00:10:11.860 --> 00:10:18.399 It's a promise that God has made, and he sent Paul to tell people about that promise of life. 00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:23.559 Now, what that promise of life is gets expanded in verse 9 of chapter 1, 00:10:23.979 --> 00:10:26.399 as being something that was planned from eternity, 00:10:27.059 --> 00:10:29.959 grace given before the beginning of time, it says. 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:33.139 But then in verse 10, it's worked out in history. 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:39.740 Christ on the cross, destroying death, and through his resurrection, bringing life and immortality to light. 00:10:40.540 --> 00:10:46.680 This message then is from, if you like, eternity past, as God plans it in eternity, 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:52.740 to eternity future, with eternal life through Jesus' death, defeating death. 00:10:52.740 --> 00:10:57.899 Now, that's the message of the gospel that gets referred to throughout the letter. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:04.799 In the letter, it's variously called the pattern of sound teaching. 00:11:05.580 --> 00:11:09.039 It's called the good deposit, as we were looking at with the children. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:13.360 It's called the things you have heard me say, in chapter 2, verse 2. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:17.080 It's called these things, in chapter 2, verse 14. 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:20.759 It's just called the truth, in chapter 2, verse 25. 00:11:21.740 --> 00:11:26.340 According to chapter 3, verses 15 to 16, it's the message of the Holy Scriptures, 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:31.860 the New Testament written by the apostles, sent by Jesus, and the Old Testament written by the prophets. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:39.160 In chapter 4, verse 17, it's just simply called the message, literally the proclamation. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:44.240 So perhaps you could imagine 2 Timothy like this. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:48.379 Here is Timothy's spiritual father, Paul. 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:50.519 He's on his deathbed. 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:55.659 He is handing over to him what is most precious to him. 00:11:56.220 --> 00:11:58.560 And it's not a piece of fine jewelry. 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:00.960 It's not the location of buried treasure. 00:12:01.180 --> 00:12:02.680 Instead, he says, listen, this is it. 00:12:03.419 --> 00:12:04.759 This is what matters. 00:12:05.379 --> 00:12:08.919 It's the message, which, if you click the next slide, will come up. 00:12:11.299 --> 00:12:11.740 Yeah, go on. 00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:12.879 There you go. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:13.399 Yeah, brilliant. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:14.080 See, in the corner. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:14.860 The message. 00:12:15.379 --> 00:12:16.700 This is what's most important. 00:12:17.180 --> 00:12:18.120 This is the treasure. 00:12:19.060 --> 00:12:21.200 This is what you need to guard and keep. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:22.620 And Paul says, I've preached it. 00:12:22.680 --> 00:12:23.279 I've taught it. 00:12:23.320 --> 00:12:23.940 I've kept it. 00:12:23.980 --> 00:12:25.139 I've suffered for it. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:27.539 And now, Timothy, it's your job. 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:28.860 You do the same. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:29.820 He says. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:32.200 This is what's worth living and dying for. 00:12:33.180 --> 00:12:37.740 This is the purpose of our church life together and of the ministry of the church. 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:40.480 Our purpose is not so much to pass on a building. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:43.740 It's not so much to pass on a way of doing things. 00:12:43.740 --> 00:12:47.519 It's not to pass on a tradition or a polity or a logo or a style. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:48.139 It's to pass on a message. 00:12:48.139 --> 00:12:49.299 It's to pass on a message. 00:12:49.299 --> 00:12:50.980 The message of the gospel. 00:12:50.980 --> 00:13:01.019 The eternal promise of a loving father worked out in history in the person of the son who brings to life immortality in him. 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:02.439 This is treasure. 00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:12.860 When I was talking to the leaders in February, suggesting that we looked at 2 Timothy together this term, this was my pitch to them. 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:23.539 I said, listen, I think right at the outset of our church life together as a merged church, I think we need to just kind of lay these foundations about what church and ministry is all about. 00:13:23.779 --> 00:13:25.419 Let's get it right, right at the beginning. 00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:32.639 It's so easy in church life to get kind of lost in the fog of all the other things that go on and lose the center. 00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:42.939 That at its heart, church life, Christian life, ministry is about holding on to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and passing it along to the next generation. 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:45.000 That's the whole game, right? 00:13:45.439 --> 00:13:51.480 If we don't do that, it matters nothing what else we do because we've lost. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:53.839 You'll kill the church. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:14:00.399 But if we do that, then with Paul and years to come, we'll be able to say, we fought the fight. 00:14:01.620 --> 00:14:03.180 We have finished the race. 00:14:03.940 --> 00:14:05.000 We have kept the faith. 00:14:06.019 --> 00:14:15.240 So I just want to point out four things that the letter of 2 Timothy tells us about how we're to go about that task of passing on the message of the gospel. 00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:16.899 So there are four headlines, really. 00:14:17.300 --> 00:14:19.960 The first one is guard the gospel, guard the gospel. 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:23.639 It's the instruction that we were looking at earlier in chapter 1, verse 14. 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:26.680 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:30.280 Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:36.740 It's the same idea in chapter 2, verse 2, where he says about handing it over to reliable people. 00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:43.480 It's not simply that the gospel can be broken or can theoretically be twisted or distorted or changed. 00:14:44.019 --> 00:14:44.759 It can. 00:14:45.240 --> 00:14:46.539 But it's not a technicality. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:47.340 It's not a theory. 00:14:47.460 --> 00:14:48.279 It's not a possibility. 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:55.580 Rather, the point is, says Paul, that there are people who want to twist the gospel, who desire to distort the gospel, 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:59.500 who will want to infiltrate the church, twist the gospel, and ruin the message. 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:06.279 In chapter 2, verse 17, Hymenes and Philetus get name-checked for departing from the truth. 00:15:06.940 --> 00:15:10.000 If you look over at chapter 3, verse 1, you're told this. 00:15:10.500 --> 00:15:15.259 But mark this, says Paul, there will be terrible times in the last days. 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:23.379 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful and holy, 00:15:23.379 --> 00:15:31.799 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, 00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:36.740 lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power, 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:38.519 have nothing to do with such people. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:44.779 And the gospel needs to be preserved, guarded against those who would twist it. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:49.139 Let me speak to you if you're a church member here this morning. 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:52.919 I hope you are conscious of this job that we have together. 00:15:53.379 --> 00:15:54.399 To guard the gospel. 00:15:55.399 --> 00:16:00.980 That although the gospel is a powerful message that has the ability to save all who would believe, 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:09.320 still that message is in a sense fragile and precious and needs to be protected from being twisted and distorted. 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:13.860 And that protection starts with you and me, doesn't it? 00:16:14.419 --> 00:16:19.080 That each of us, starting with the leaders but working its way into every church member, 00:16:19.419 --> 00:16:22.779 all of us need to be clear on our understanding of the gospel. 00:16:23.379 --> 00:16:25.559 We need to be thorough in our study. 00:16:26.179 --> 00:16:29.100 We need to be careful in our speech. 00:16:29.100 --> 00:16:36.480 And that matters because if we fail to guard the gospel, then we lose the treasure that is at the center of church life that we're meant to be handing on. 00:16:37.259 --> 00:16:42.980 You know, if we are flippant about who we let preach, if we are thoughtless about the words that we are going to sing together, 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:49.100 if we are half-hearted in our study of the scriptures, it's like the equivalent of melting the crown jewels to hell. 00:16:49.300 --> 00:16:50.259 Why would you do that? 00:16:50.259 --> 00:16:57.139 Or using the family pottery as frisbees, selling the family business just for a quid. 00:16:57.580 --> 00:16:58.460 You wouldn't do it, would you? 00:16:58.779 --> 00:16:59.840 And you shouldn't do it. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:05.000 There's something else here that's going on as well, and it's a little bit more complicated to explain. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:08.880 But let me have a go if I can, and if I fail, you can come and find me over lunch. 00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:14.660 There are essentially, I think, two reasons why you might need to guard something. 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:17.140 One is because it might be small and really precious. 00:17:17.420 --> 00:17:18.940 So think of something like a diamond. 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:24.019 A diamond is very valuable, but it's also very small, isn't it? 00:17:24.740 --> 00:17:29.200 You could swallow it, or you could lose it, or drop it, or flush it down the toilet, or something like that. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:34.420 So you need to guard it and watch over it, because you could easily lose it. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:38.559 But there's also another way that you need to guard something. 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:40.740 Big things sometimes need guarding. 00:17:41.120 --> 00:17:43.180 Think about the environment. 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:47.819 The environment is precious, but not in the same way that a diamond is precious. 00:17:47.819 --> 00:17:51.059 It's not small, you can't flush it down the toilet or swallow it. 00:17:51.600 --> 00:17:58.279 But it is still in need of guarding and protecting, because it's the arena in which everything happens. 00:17:58.279 --> 00:18:03.379 It's the umbrella under which all of our lives happen. 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:07.859 If you destroy the environment, if you burn your home down, if you pollute your city, 00:18:07.980 --> 00:18:11.660 if you poison the water coming out of your tap, you will die. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:14.539 You need to guard the environment in which you live. 00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:21.940 Now, I want to suggest to you that Christians have tended to treat the gospel like it's a small diamond that needs protecting, 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.579 and not like the environment that needs looking after it. 00:18:24.579 --> 00:18:28.000 And I want to suggest to you that, although it's a bit of both, really it's like the environment. 00:18:29.019 --> 00:18:33.759 Christians have tended to sort of summarize the gospel very simply in a very small way, 00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:37.599 to say the message of the gospel really is just about Jesus, it's about the things you've done wrong, 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:38.619 and it's about getting forgiveness. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:42.799 And what we're going to do is we're going to get it out on a Sunday, and we're going to look at it, 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:45.980 and then we're going to put it away, and we're going to ignore it the rest of the week, 00:18:46.299 --> 00:18:47.279 because it doesn't really matter. 00:18:47.339 --> 00:18:49.139 But what really matters is that we don't lose it. 00:18:49.140 --> 00:18:53.240 But that's not Paul's image here. 00:18:53.980 --> 00:18:57.360 The gospel that Paul is teaching is way bigger than that, right? 00:18:58.040 --> 00:19:01.360 The gospel here encompasses the eternal plans of God. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:06.919 The gospel is what God was thinking about even before the world began. 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:10.539 The gospel has its end in our eternal life. 00:19:11.159 --> 00:19:15.000 The gospel has its heart in the work of Christ on the cross, 00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:19.439 the death of God in the person of the Son in human flesh. 00:19:19.879 --> 00:19:21.099 That's what the gospel is about. 00:19:21.159 --> 00:19:23.119 It's not a small little thing. 00:19:23.179 --> 00:19:25.259 It's a ginormous thing. 00:19:25.259 --> 00:19:28.039 It encompasses all things. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.579 And it's precious because then it's the explanation of who God is. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:34.000 It's the explanation of what the world is about. 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:36.220 It's the explanation of who I am. 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:39.740 It tells me what my life is for, what's happening in the world. 00:19:40.619 --> 00:19:42.379 It's the news that God is at work. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:46.980 It tells us that all of history is working towards a day. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:48.640 Chapter 4, verse 8. 00:19:49.220 --> 00:19:54.220 That day, he says, when all people, everyone in this room, 00:19:54.220 --> 00:19:58.980 everyone in history and geography will stand before their maker. 00:20:00.380 --> 00:20:02.100 That's not a small message. 00:20:02.779 --> 00:20:04.480 That's a ginormous message. 00:20:05.579 --> 00:20:08.079 If I can put it this way for the nerds in the room, 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:11.000 it's the operating system of the universe. 00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:14.160 It's the way everything is working. 00:20:14.920 --> 00:20:16.039 It's the big idea. 00:20:16.500 --> 00:20:18.319 It's the fact at the heart of the universe. 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:23.620 And that means that guarding the gospel is not so much getting it out on a Sunday 00:20:23.619 --> 00:20:26.619 and making sure that we explain this simple message very clearly. 00:20:27.259 --> 00:20:28.539 I mean, we must do that. 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:31.979 But actually, guarding the gospel is much bigger than that. 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:33.979 It invades every corner of your life. 00:20:34.779 --> 00:20:37.599 Guarding the gospel shapes not what we do here together, 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:39.679 but also shapes what you do in the week. 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:43.159 It shapes how you build relationships with your colleagues at work, 00:20:43.219 --> 00:20:44.659 what you dream about your future, 00:20:45.019 --> 00:20:46.979 how you face the difficulties in life. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:49.679 You know, as you pick up 2 Timothy and work through it, 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:53.299 and I hope maybe in weeks to come you're reading through it in your own devotions as well. 00:20:53.840 --> 00:20:55.400 You see these kind of ideas. 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:58.299 You guard the gospel by not being in love with the world. 00:21:00.380 --> 00:21:02.799 You guard the gospel by fighting self-love, 00:21:03.460 --> 00:21:05.060 by fighting pride, 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:06.560 the love of money, 00:21:07.340 --> 00:21:09.259 disobedience to our parents, slander. 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:12.820 We guard the gospel by not being timid or ashamed of it, 00:21:13.320 --> 00:21:17.100 because the gospel has something to say in each area of our lives. 00:21:17.099 --> 00:21:24.139 Here, I think, then, is the big threat to our faithful passing on of the gospel to the next generation. 00:21:25.379 --> 00:21:27.839 I don't think, maybe this is naive, 00:21:28.019 --> 00:21:34.480 but I think it's unlikely that we're going to have a members meeting in the next 10, 20, 30 years, 00:21:34.539 --> 00:21:38.099 where we say, hey, let's scrap our statement of faith and write a different one. 00:21:39.299 --> 00:21:41.879 I know that could happen, and we need to guard against that, 00:21:41.939 --> 00:21:42.980 but I think that's unlikely. 00:21:42.980 --> 00:21:48.279 Secondly, I think it is more likely that we will fail to guard the gospel 00:21:48.279 --> 00:21:51.380 by not letting it invade every corner of our lives, 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:55.960 that we don't let the gospel drive us and shape us, 00:21:56.339 --> 00:22:00.940 that we fail to guard the gospel because it doesn't mold our ambitions or our desires. 00:22:01.819 --> 00:22:05.279 But the dying Paul says to Timothy and says to all of us, 00:22:05.779 --> 00:22:08.019 guard the gospel, guard the gospel. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.259 Secondly, he says, suffer for the gospel. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:11.519 Look back at chapter 1, verse 8. 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:13.859 There are a few of these coming, so stay with me. 00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:14.980 Chapter 1, verse 8. 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:20.319 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. 00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:26.440 Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:27.720 Verse 11. 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:31.859 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 00:22:32.420 --> 00:22:35.079 That is why I am suffering as I am. 00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:37.559 Chapter 2, verse 8. 00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:40.899 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:47.519 This is my gospel for which I am suffering, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. 00:22:48.299 --> 00:22:49.659 But God's word is not chained. 00:22:49.899 --> 00:22:51.639 Chapter 3, verse 10. 00:22:51.640 --> 00:23:00.900 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings. 00:23:00.940 --> 00:23:03.640 What kind of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra? 00:23:04.120 --> 00:23:05.980 The persecutions I endured. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:08.920 Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:15.460 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 00:23:15.880 --> 00:23:19.940 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 00:23:21.840 --> 00:23:25.980 I don't have time to go into the detail of all this, so you'll have to stay with us in weeks to come, 00:23:26.140 --> 00:23:28.060 and we'll draw it out as it comes. 00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:33.980 But Paul is saying here that guarding the gospel involves suffering for the gospel. 00:23:34.500 --> 00:23:37.380 The cost of staying true is suffering. 00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:39.160 Timothy will suffer. 00:23:39.820 --> 00:23:40.720 I will suffer. 00:23:41.460 --> 00:23:42.360 You will suffer. 00:23:42.900 --> 00:23:49.120 In fact, everyone will suffer for the gospel if they want to live for Jesus, speak for Jesus to those around them. 00:23:49.900 --> 00:23:53.840 The big idea here seems to be that the gospel is God's message, 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:59.700 his operating system of the universe, if you like, but it is into a hostile world. 00:24:00.540 --> 00:24:04.860 God is merciful and gracious, but the world is rebellious to its maker. 00:24:04.859 --> 00:24:10.319 So much so that for reasons that can't really be explained, the world hates those who live and speak for Jesus, 00:24:10.379 --> 00:24:12.259 in the same way that it hated Jesus himself. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:15.740 Now, we have to take this seriously, don't we? 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:20.539 It is true that we live at a privileged time and in a privileged place where we're able to meet freely. 00:24:20.539 --> 00:24:24.980 We're unlikely to be shut down by the authorities for preaching the gospel, at least for the moment. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:33.240 But still, the point is that staying true and faithful to the gospel is not the key to an easy life, 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:35.980 or even an apparently successful church. 00:24:36.379 --> 00:24:38.659 Instead, faithfulness is the road marked with suffering. 00:24:38.779 --> 00:24:42.639 The road to glory, says Paul, is the road down into suffering. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:47.460 And it stands to reason, doesn't it, if you like, this grand message of the universe, 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:50.540 this one that goes to eternity past, to eternity future, 00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:55.500 right at its center is the violent death of Jesus on the cross at the hands of wicked men. 00:24:56.020 --> 00:24:58.100 And if that's at the center of the message, 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:01.920 then why should you and I expect that guarding that message, passing it on to others, 00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:04.380 would be done through our ease and our success, 00:25:05.140 --> 00:25:07.360 rather than through our suffering and our weakness? 00:25:09.300 --> 00:25:10.980 Now, think about what that means for us in this room. 00:25:10.980 --> 00:25:14.079 It means that if you're a Christian this morning, 00:25:14.220 --> 00:25:18.099 if you believe this message about Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection for you, 00:25:18.940 --> 00:25:23.180 then it doesn't matter who you are, how old you are, or where you're from, 00:25:23.620 --> 00:25:25.799 you will suffer for it. 00:25:26.380 --> 00:25:27.819 I think we can say more than that. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:32.620 I think we can say you must suffer for it. 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:37.740 So you must live, mustn't you, with the reality that trusting in Christ 00:25:37.740 --> 00:25:39.599 will not make you popular at school. 00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:45.000 There will be a point at which you have to choose the way of your friends or the way of the gospel. 00:25:46.719 --> 00:25:51.259 Living for Jesus will mean suffering rejection, misunderstanding, false accusations. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:56.339 Living for Jesus means you won't be able to take every promotion at work 00:25:56.339 --> 00:25:58.039 because your priorities will be different. 00:25:58.779 --> 00:26:00.959 It means you won't be able to marry anybody that you fancy. 00:26:01.619 --> 00:26:03.799 It means that you won't be able to live wherever you want. 00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:07.480 You won't be able to spend all your time and all your money on yourself 00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:10.519 and your free time just on your own pleasure. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:14.559 And that's not because God is trying to rob you of fun, 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:18.500 but rather because this, says Paul, is the road to glory. 00:26:19.159 --> 00:26:20.379 It's marked with suffering. 00:26:21.139 --> 00:26:22.980 This is truly remarkable if you think about it. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:24.879 Just imagine where Paul is, right? 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:27.580 Imagine that you are where Paul is, right? 00:26:27.620 --> 00:26:33.300 He's in a dark, cold dungeon somewhere in Rome in a back alley that no one can find. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:37.380 Now, if you were writing a letter to one of your dearest friends from that place, 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:38.140 what would you write? 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:43.020 Do everything that you can to avoid coming where I am, right? 00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:45.580 Do whatever you do. 00:26:45.940 --> 00:26:47.040 Don't end up here. 00:26:47.420 --> 00:26:48.200 It's terrible. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:49.279 It's miserable. 00:26:49.580 --> 00:26:50.660 I've lost everything. 00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:52.840 But Paul doesn't say that, does he? 00:26:53.580 --> 00:26:57.000 From his dungeon, he says, come join me. 00:26:57.640 --> 00:26:58.500 Come find me. 00:26:59.420 --> 00:27:01.460 Come join me in my suffering for the gospel. 00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:02.660 Why does he say that? 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:03.740 Does he hate Timothy? 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:05.039 Is he trying to ruin his life? 00:27:05.539 --> 00:27:06.420 No, not at all. 00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:13.680 Paul knows, doesn't he, that life, real life, is found in suffering now and glory later. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:20.100 The message of salvation for all who would believe holds an eternal promise of life for Paul 00:27:20.100 --> 00:27:22.940 that even the dungeon cannot rob him off. 00:27:23.860 --> 00:27:25.480 And he wants Timothy to know the same. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:27.360 And he wants you to know the same. 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:30.480 Thirdly, continue in the gospel. 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:35.259 I wonder if perhaps the biggest temptation to Christians guarding the gospel and suffering for it 00:27:35.259 --> 00:27:36.700 is they just give up, right? 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.759 It's not so much that we find the gospel to be untrue. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:42.680 Rather, we find life to be distracting and hard. 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:46.519 So we compromise, we wander away, and we just stop running the Christian race. 00:27:47.400 --> 00:27:50.340 And Paul's instruction to Timothy, it's there in chapter 3, verse 14. 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:56.100 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and become convinced of, 00:27:56.380 --> 00:27:58.480 because you know those from whom you learned it, 00:27:58.840 --> 00:28:02.299 and how from infancy you've known the scriptures, the holy scriptures, 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:06.220 which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:12.180 The letter itself is full of examples of those who have not done that. 00:28:12.680 --> 00:28:15.580 Perhaps the most devastating one is in chapter 4, verse 10, 00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:17.259 when you're told about a guy called Demas, 00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:21.080 who deserts Paul because he's in love with the world, he says. 00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:26.119 I think if I could try and encapsulate the warning here, it's something like this. 00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:30.299 Starting well is really easy. 00:28:31.259 --> 00:28:33.480 Keeping going is a lot more difficult. 00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:35.659 So keep going. 00:28:36.059 --> 00:28:36.960 Continue, says Paul. 00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:40.299 It's funny, isn't it, when you read it, it's not very impressive. 00:28:41.240 --> 00:28:43.599 It's not even particularly very motivational. 00:28:44.359 --> 00:28:46.059 You'd imagine it's a pitch at work. 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:48.220 We're just carrying on, guys. 00:28:48.539 --> 00:28:49.200 It's what we're doing. 00:28:50.339 --> 00:28:52.460 It's not a message, really, that you hear anywhere else, is it? 00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:55.759 This is not, let's build bigger, dream bigger. 00:28:56.039 --> 00:28:57.819 It's not, let's do great things. 00:28:58.419 --> 00:29:02.359 It's not even, let's be a church planting church that plants other churches. 00:29:02.500 --> 00:29:03.379 Let's start movements. 00:29:03.579 --> 00:29:04.779 Let's expect revivals. 00:29:04.779 --> 00:29:06.200 Let's not, let's do great things. 00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:08.000 There's not anything wrong with any of those things. 00:29:08.859 --> 00:29:11.160 But his message is, continue. 00:29:12.279 --> 00:29:13.799 Keep going. 00:29:14.579 --> 00:29:15.460 Don't give up. 00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:17.980 I wonder if there's a lesson for us. 00:29:18.399 --> 00:29:24.339 You see, I think it's the temptation of younger Christians to look at older saints and think they don't know what they're talking about. 00:29:24.339 --> 00:29:28.859 I know that because I have been that younger Christian. 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:30.579 Still am at times. 00:29:32.919 --> 00:29:36.279 I think we can look at people and think, oh, they don't really understand the times that we live in. 00:29:36.339 --> 00:29:37.299 They don't understand the culture. 00:29:37.419 --> 00:29:39.819 They don't understand the gospel opportunity that we have. 00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:41.639 They just need to get with it. 00:29:42.459 --> 00:29:46.059 And if they did that, we would be a more successful church. 00:29:46.919 --> 00:29:47.759 Now, that might be true. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:51.319 We do need to make sure as a church that we stay contemporary in the right way. 00:29:52.779 --> 00:30:03.799 But I think the danger for the young is that we undervalue the grace of keeping going, carrying on, and that we fail to honor those who have kept going. 00:30:05.019 --> 00:30:06.779 I was reflecting with a friend of mine. 00:30:06.859 --> 00:30:10.619 We've both been in Christian ministry together alongside one another for a number of years. 00:30:11.160 --> 00:30:12.879 We were childhood friends. 00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:17.059 And we've studied and taught through 2 Timothy in different contexts. 00:30:17.059 --> 00:30:18.279 And we were talking about the letter. 00:30:18.679 --> 00:30:19.639 And I said, you know what? 00:30:19.700 --> 00:30:24.519 I think I thought when I was a young Christian that 2 Timothy was all about fighting. 00:30:25.179 --> 00:30:27.000 All about fighting for the truth. 00:30:27.659 --> 00:30:31.379 Now I read it as an older Christian and think it's all about just keeping going. 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:35.200 And we should honor those who have kept going. 00:30:36.579 --> 00:30:43.379 So let me say to our senior saints in the room this morning, we honor you for keeping going. 00:30:44.539 --> 00:30:46.639 Praise God that he has enabled you to do that. 00:30:47.059 --> 00:30:51.000 And can I say to you, don't give up. 00:30:51.419 --> 00:30:52.059 Not now. 00:30:52.419 --> 00:30:53.519 You're almost home. 00:30:54.299 --> 00:30:55.240 Keep persevering. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:56.839 Your faithfulness will be rewarded. 00:30:57.819 --> 00:31:11.240 And let me encourage you, if you're a younger church member, why not over lunch today, make a bean line for someone who is older and ask them, please tell me, how has it been carrying on? 00:31:12.139 --> 00:31:12.740 Keeping going. 00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:14.579 How have you done that? 00:31:15.299 --> 00:31:16.180 Will you pray for me? 00:31:16.779 --> 00:31:26.019 Would you pray that when I'm your age, I, like you, would be found in a gospel preaching church, telling people about Jesus, singing God's praises and living for him? 00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:27.559 Would you pray that for me? 00:31:28.299 --> 00:31:29.240 They would love to do that. 00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:32.299 Finally, preach the gospel. 00:31:32.579 --> 00:31:33.180 Preach the gospel. 00:31:33.180 --> 00:31:37.500 I think there's something counterintuitive in this that I just want to show you as we finish. 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:41.740 I think we tend to think that guarding and protecting things is by keeping them a secret. 00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:44.560 We hide precious things away in safe places. 00:31:45.100 --> 00:31:47.820 We put our money in the bank or under the mattress. 00:31:47.819 --> 00:31:51.519 We keep our pin number to ourselves, our passwords in a vault. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:53.939 But the gospel is not like that, is it? 00:31:53.960 --> 00:31:54.659 It's the opposite. 00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:56.319 We guard the gospel. 00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:57.379 We protect the gospel. 00:31:57.519 --> 00:32:03.740 We keep the gospel at the center of our church life by exposing it, preaching it. 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:05.319 Look at chapter four, verse two. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:07.879 Paul tells Timothy, preach the word. 00:32:08.279 --> 00:32:10.339 Be prepared in season and out of season. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:13.740 Correct, rebuke, encourage with great patience and careful instruction. 00:32:14.819 --> 00:32:15.899 It's amazing, really. 00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:19.299 Timothy is to keep preaching, whether it's easy or whether it's difficult. 00:32:19.480 --> 00:32:22.539 Whether people are loving it or whether people are saying, please stop, Timothy. 00:32:22.579 --> 00:32:23.939 We don't want to hear any more about it. 00:32:24.259 --> 00:32:25.779 Keep going, says Paul. 00:32:25.879 --> 00:32:26.439 Keep preaching. 00:32:27.679 --> 00:32:32.000 And the point here is not, I don't think so much that the gospel must be preached. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:37.059 It's like a, you know, Timothy needs to do something to the gospel to make it worth preaching. 00:32:37.420 --> 00:32:42.339 Rather, it is that the preaching of the gospel is something the gospel itself demands, right? 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:44.380 I mentioned this in passing. 00:32:44.500 --> 00:32:47.359 You probably won't have even noticed, but look at chapter four, verse 17. 00:32:48.339 --> 00:32:53.079 We're told that, but the Lord stood at my side, says Paul, and gave me strength so that through me, 00:32:53.380 --> 00:32:57.740 it says, the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles hear it. 00:32:57.740 --> 00:33:03.880 Now, what's interesting, if you look at that verse, is that in the Greek, there is no word for message in that sentence. 00:33:04.740 --> 00:33:06.799 It is just the word proclamation. 00:33:07.660 --> 00:33:11.880 Because Paul's point is that the gospel itself is a proclamation, right? 00:33:12.740 --> 00:33:17.740 Preaching is to the gospel what drinking is to water or what eating is to food. 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:20.720 It's sort of a necessary consequence of his existence. 00:33:21.700 --> 00:33:24.980 Preaching the gospel is what you have to do with the gospel. 00:33:24.980 --> 00:33:28.799 If you've understood the gospel, you will preach it because the gospel is a message. 00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:29.740 It's to be taught. 00:33:29.900 --> 00:33:31.220 It's to be explained. 00:33:31.360 --> 00:33:32.279 It's to be exposed. 00:33:33.480 --> 00:33:35.860 The same idea in chapter two, verse nine. 00:33:36.700 --> 00:33:40.880 This is my gospel for which I am suffering, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. 00:33:41.460 --> 00:33:43.599 But God's word is not chained. 00:33:44.299 --> 00:33:52.240 You can tie up the person who's preaching it, but you can't tie up the gospel itself because it is a proclamation, a message. 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:55.500 God's church, God's unchained, free proclamation. 00:33:56.120 --> 00:33:57.620 It can't be silenced. 00:33:58.460 --> 00:34:08.219 So a Christian that doesn't share the gospel or a church that doesn't preach the gospel is like a restaurant that doesn't serve food and you don't go to eat there. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:12.880 It's like a hotel that has no beds or a car that has no wheels. 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:22.840 It's pointless because the gospel and believing it demands that we preach it because it is God's message to a lost and broken world. 00:34:24.119 --> 00:34:26.720 So let me say to you this morning, perhaps you're sitting here this morning. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:27.400 You're not a Christian. 00:34:27.539 --> 00:34:28.740 It's the first time you've been in church. 00:34:28.820 --> 00:34:29.579 It's really brilliant. 00:34:29.660 --> 00:34:29.980 You're here. 00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:30.820 Welcome. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:31.980 It's so good to have you. 00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:37.880 Let me tell you, and I can say this on the authority of Paul and the Bible itself. 00:34:38.380 --> 00:34:41.059 God has something to say to you this morning. 00:34:41.480 --> 00:34:43.760 He has a message for you. 00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:46.719 And the message is about Jesus Christ. 00:34:47.260 --> 00:34:50.320 It's a message that extends from eternity past to eternity future. 00:34:50.740 --> 00:34:53.860 It finds its center in the work of Christ on the cross. 00:34:54.039 --> 00:34:56.039 And it is for you. 00:34:56.039 --> 00:35:08.199 And you must listen to it and come and find the good news of Christ, the crucified Savior, who died for your sins so that you might find glory, life and hope in him. 00:35:09.019 --> 00:35:16.199 A hope that won't leave you, even if you find yourself in a cold, damp dungeon in Rome. 00:35:16.820 --> 00:35:21.800 It's a hope that makes everything make sense, even when you're dying. 00:35:22.659 --> 00:35:24.639 Let me pray for us. 00:35:24.639 --> 00:35:25.139 Let me pray. 00:35:26.039 --> 00:35:27.039 Let me pray. 00:35:35.619 --> 00:35:41.440 Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that you have spoken this brilliant message of the gospel. 00:35:42.219 --> 00:35:51.460 This message that extends from eternity past into eternity future, centered on the work of Christ on the cross, a message of forgiveness and grace and mercy and hope. 00:35:51.460 --> 00:36:02.639 And we pray that as a church, we would guard the gospel, suffer for the gospel, continue in the gospel and preach the gospel. 00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:11.259 Please, we pray, would none of us here abandon our hope in Christ, but would we keep going with our hope and trust in him. 00:36:11.940 --> 00:36:14.500 In his name, in his name, amen. 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.500 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:14.960 Amen.