Remembering God’s Promises

1:17Winston Churchill began serving as Prime Minister of England on May 10, 1940, which was just eight short months after World War II began. And when he took Over, he inherited a seemingly impossible task. He was to unite the country, boost the morale of both the people and the military, and to defeat a ruthless, efficient military machine that was led by none other than Adolf Hitler. To achieve that goal, he gave a series of speeches in May and June 1940, portions of which are familiar to all of us, at least most of us in the room today. And on May 13th, 1940, he stood before the House of Commons and he asked them to declare their confidence in his newly formed coalition government. And here's what he said to them: We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.

2:24We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say it is to wage war by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us, to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalog of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: it is victory.

3:00Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be. Well, Winston Churchill kept his promise. Neither he, nor the British people, nor the British military gave up until victory was secured nearly five long years later. His words, and especially his brave example, helped the nation endure to the end of one of the longest and most difficult conflicts in human history. When Paul wrote to Timothy, Christians were suffering all over the Roman Empire. They were suffering for proclaiming the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and Paul was no different. He was suffering acutely, in fact, suffering in prison, bound with chains.

3:53And he knew that if Timothy was going to continue the work that God had called him to do, that he would need something firm to stand on. He would need a firm foundation on which to base his life and ministry. And there was nothing firmer, there is nothing firmer, than the promises of God. And so Paul is going to, in this section, remind him again and again of what God has done and of what God has promised, calling Timothy to remember.

4:23And friends, in the same way, you and I are in need of reminders. We're in. Of reminders because it's hard to endure to the end when we're called to continue hoping and trusting in Jesus Christ. And it's hard to endure to the end when we are called to make disciples, calling others to trust in Christ and to endure to the end as well. And so, what we'll learn in this section of Scripture is that remembering God's promises strengthens us to endure to the end.

4:56Let's look together at verse 8. You see, the Paul begins with these words: Remember Jesus Christ. Now, on first glance, that seems like a very strange thing to tell a Christian. Remember Jesus Christ. It seems like an even stranger thing to tell a pastor like Timothy, why would Paul write those words? Well, friends, he wrote those words because Timothy was just like Israel. And Timothy was just like us. All of us are forgetful people. And we see that point illustrated in Scripture over and over again, especially when we see the nation of Israel moving into the promised land. Look on the screen at Deuteronomy chapter 6. This is right before they enter the promised land.

5:47And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give you, with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of good things that you did not build. You did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

6:19You see, God Himself knew what a struggle this was going to be for them. Isn't it true that when we go through hard times, when we're enduring trials and difficulties and setbacks, it's not as hard to remember the Lord. What else are you going to do when you go through those times but cry out to him, but pray? But it's in the times of blessing, it's in the times of prosperity, it's in the times that things are going the best that it's often most difficult to remember God, to remember his work, to remember his promises.

6:52And the Lord knew that was going to be a struggle for Israel, and so he said, when you come into the promised land and everything is exactly the opposite as it's been the last 40 years as you've been wandering in the wilderness, take care so that you don't forget the Lord, so you don't forget his work. But look at what Judges chapter 8 records. This is just a very short time later. And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side.

7:26That happened over and over again. God would reveal himself, would do something great, would make wonderful promises to them. They would say, God, we'll never forget, we'll remember you, we'll do what you've commanded, and time and time again, they would not remember. That's why there are so many calls in the Bible. You can do a word study on that and see for yourself how many times the word remember or remind or do not forget the phrase, how many times that appears in Scripture.

7:55That's also why God instituted all of the pictorial examples, the symbols that we have. So in the Old Testament and under the Old Covenant, you have all of the festivals. You have, for example, the Passover, which celebrated the Exodus from Egypt. You've got the Feast of Booths, and we have something similar at Texas A ⁇ M. It's called Shackathon. You guys know what Shackathon is? Everybody know? Okay, well, you build these temporary houses. It's for habitat for humanity to say, hey, this is what it's like to live in a shack. It's hard.

8:27And in the same way, Israel would build these little shacks. And they would set them up to remember, hey, we wandered for 40 years in the desert, in the wilderness. We didn't have a permanent home. And so they did that for a week every year to remind themselves, this is what it was like. We don't ever want to go back there again. The Feast of Atonement reminded them that they needed a Savior. They needed a Messiah, Jesus.

8:52And under the New Covenant, we have those same reminders. Not the exact same forms, but the same type of thing. That's why we get... Together on Sunday. The Jews don't forget worshiped on Saturday. Why do we worship on Sunday? It's because Jesus rose from the dead early on the first day of the week. Why do we celebrate the Lord's Supper? It's so that when we take the tangible bread in our hand, we're reminded that Jesus is the bread of life and that His body was broken for us.

9:23Why do we drink the wine or the juice? It's because when it passes over our lips, we're reminded that His blood was poured out for us for the forgiveness of sins. You see, God knows that we are a forgetful people, and that's why we have to have these reminders both in His Word and then through those times of remembrance. I don't know about you, I'm a very forgetful person. And I think that parent brain has only made it worse. So just yesterday, I walked into this room in my house, and I kind of looked around, like, why am I here?

9:56I could not remember why I went in this room. Walked back out, sat down, and only after I sat down, I remember, oh, that's why I went in there. That happens to me all the time. But I think what's even worse is that we go days at a time, sometimes weeks at a time or months at a time, without functionally remembering the Lord. We act as though he's not present in our lives to help us. We act as though he's not there, that he won't hear our prayers, that he won't respond. And so, functionally, from day to day, because we are such a forgetful people, we can end up living like practical. Atheists. We're not atheists. We believe that God exists. We believe that the God of the Bible is present in our lives and powerful. He hears our prayers and acts. But day to day, we get caught up, and life happens to us, and we forget. We're a forgetful people, and that's why we need all of the reminders.

10:50Now, there's two specific truths that Timothy is to remember. Look again at the text. The first thing that Timothy is to remember is that Christ was risen from the dead. Now, throughout his ministry, Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. And he was very explicit time and again. He said, If you destroy this temple, referring to his body, if you destroy this temple in three days, I will raise it up. He claimed this over and over, that he was the Son of God. And in his resurrection, he defeated sin and its consequence, death. And so Timothy is to, above all things, remember that Jesus was risen from the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, everything that we do as Christians is in vain. This is no different than any other religion if Jesus did not rise from the dead. So that's the first thing that he is to remember. The second truth is that Christ was the offspring of David.

11:52Now, as many of us know, Jesus of Nazareth was Mary's son. And Mary, of course, as well as her husband Joseph. Were descendants of King David. And that's significant. Because a thousand years before Jesus was born, God appeared and he promised that there would be a descendant from David that would sit on the throne forever. This is clearly not a human king. No kingdom lasts forever. We've seen this in our own political system. One party is in power for a while, then another party is in power for a while. You study world history, and you see how one kingdom rises and lasts for a while, and then it totters and falls.

12:36But God spoke to David and he says, There's going to be one of your descendants, and he's going to sit on my throne forever. And so these two things are critical to remember. Because by remembering that Jesus had risen from the dead, Timothy would remember he is fully God. He's fully God. No one else can rise from the dead. And by remembering that he was descended from David, he is the offspring of David, he would be reminded that he is fully human. And that's why Paul says, as preached in my gospel. Because there were all these other false teachers out there that were preaching different gospels, that were saying Jesus is not fully divine, or saying Jesus is not fully human. You see, the Jews could believe that Jesus was a man. That wasn't hard for them to believe at all. They just couldn't accept that he was God.

13:29And for many, Gentiles, they had no problem believing that Jesus was divine. Their system of thinking fully allowed for that. What they could never accept was that God would take on flesh and become a man. Why would he do that? And so he's to remember these two things because that's what Paul is preaching in his gospel, the true gospel. That Jesus, fully God and fully man, is the one person who can be our mediator, who can stand in the gap for us and reconcile us to God.

14:03And friends, because Paul preached that gospel, he offended everybody. He offended Jews and Gentiles alike. And that's why he was suffering, as he says here, bound with chains as a criminal. Paul had spent a very long time traveling, preaching, planting churches, but now he's in jail. And he can pray and he can write letters to church leaders and to churches, but that's all he can do. He's bound with chains in prison. But look at what he writes. But the word of God is not bound.

14:51Even if Paul was in prison, that would never stop the advance of the gospel. You see, God's plans can't be thwarted. By human failure or human opposition, God's plans can't be thwarted by human failure, and that is great news for you and me, isn't it? I mean, every week I am so aware of all of my many failures. How I have opportunities to share the gospel, but I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what that person will think of me. I'm afraid of losing that friendship. I'm afraid of what it will do and communicate.

15:26I have opportunities to love and to serve other people. I fail. God's plans cannot be thwarted by human failure. Our sins, our failures, our mistakes don't get in the way of what God is going to accomplish. That's the beauty of him being in control of all things. But also remember that God's plans can't be thwarted by human opposition. That's bad news for the people who are trying to oppose God and his gospel. In fact, we learn again and again that when the gospel is opposed, what actually happens is that it further advances the message. Look on the screen at Philippians chapter 1, and Paul, remember, is writing this letter also from prison.

16:08He says, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word. Without fear. Now, that was not the goal of the people who threw him into jail. They did not want that to happen. But by throwing Paul into prison, all of the Roman Imperial Guard, all of these very important men who were close to Caesar and to everybody that was in power, they heard the gospel message through Paul's preaching because he was in prison. And instead of everybody else who had been ministered to by Paul, instead of them shrinking away in fear that they're going to have to go to jail, that they might die too, instead of that, what happened? They were more emboldened to go and preach the gospel. It had the opposite effect of what these people wanted. Look at what 19th-century pastor Albert Barnes had to say.

17:20It has become a settled principle that nothing which is good and true can be destroyed by persecution, but that the effect ultimately is to establish more firmly and to spread more widely that which it was designed to overthrow. It has long passed into a proverb that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Barnes is correct. In the long run, persecution only establishes more firmly and spreads more widely that which it is designed to overthrow. And it's proven true in all of our human experiences. You think about governments in the last few years that have tried to crack down on citizens in their country. What effect has that had?

18:09Only to establish more firmly what they were trying to establish. February, of course, in the United States is Black History Month. And what a wonderful time it is to remember the civil rights movement. So many government officials, so many police officers, so many citizens through persecution were trying to deny rights to African Americans that were extended to everyone else. And all the persecution did was to establish more firmly the truth that we are all created in God's image and likeness, that all of us have equal worth and value before God, that all men are created equal. All it did was establish that more firmly. And so, friends, when we think about these kinds of things, we can remember that no matter how bad things look, we don't have to despair. God is in control. He will achieve his purposes with or without any one of us because his word is not bound. That is great news. And I want you to see in verse 10 how Paul connects that great news with the way that he's living his life. Look at verse 10 with me.

19:28Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Paul says, therefore. In other words, since the word of God is not bound, Paul endures everything for the sake of the elect. And for Paul, that was not just talk. It's easy to say that you would endure everything for the sake of the elect, but for Paul, that wasn't just talk. He says in 1 Corinthians 9 that he has become all things to all men, so that by all possible means he might save some. And then he went and he walked out the truth of those words. When he was returning from one of his missionary journeys, some men approached him as he got back to Jerusalem and they said, Paul, there are some rumors going around that you have just forsaken your Jewish heritage, your past.

20:32And they're offended at you and your message because of it. And so here's what we want you to do. We want you to come and we want you to worship in the temple so that they will know that those rumors are false. Now, Paul could have thrown a fit about that. He could have said, look, I'm free in Christ. I don't have to do any of those things. It doesn't matter what those people think about me. I don't answer to them. But what did he do instead?

21:00He took a vow, he shaved his head, he fasted, and he paid the expenses of all the men that were traveling with him to do the same so that he wouldn't cause anybody to stumble. He endured everything for the sake of the elect. And his example was so powerful that the men who were with him followed that example exactly. So when Paul and Timothy started ministering together, it became apparent that if Timothy wasn't circumcised, it was going to be a stumbling block to the Jews. And so Timothy, as a grown man, is circumcised so as not to cause anyone to stumble.

21:37His associate Titus is willing to be circumcised, but Paul says, we're not going to do that. We're not going to do that because you minister primarily to Gentiles. We don't want to send the wrong message to them. You don't have to be circumcised. You don't have to obey the Mosaic law in order to be saved. We're not going to do that. We will become all things to all men. We will put up with everything, endure anything for the sake of the gospel.

22:01And it wasn't just in those relatively minor inconveniences either. Look on the screen at 2 Corinthians 11, where he recounts all that he suffered. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent Journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

23:04I want you to let that sink in for just a minute. Paul was whipped 195 times. He was beaten with rods three times. He was stoned and left for dead. What must this man have looked like at the end of his life? He was often hungry. He was in danger all the time. And on top of all that stuff, there's the pressure of caring for all of the churches. But, friends, he was willing to endure everything for the sake of the elect. God's people were so precious to him that he was willing to put up with anything, to suffer and die. Why? Look again at what he says: so that they would obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

24:01It was Jesus himself who said that there's no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend. And in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a sacrifice to lay down your life once. And if you've gotten married, then you know how true this is. Because in your engagement, you think to yourself, I'm willing to die for my spouse, especially those of us, men, hopefully we say, I'm willing to die for my spouse. That's wonderful. The hard thing in marriage is that you're called to die to yourself every single day. That's what's hard. It's not the final and glorious sacrifice, it's the small sacrifices that you have to make day in and day out to love someone else. And Paul says, I'm willing to put up with everything, everything for the sake of the elect.

24:56And I want you to notice here again that Paul refers to God's people, like we've pointed out several other times in this letter, as the elect. And he connects his amazing, unsurpassed efforts in evangelism with the belief in God's divine sovereignty, his choice to save undeserving sinners from his wrath. You see, the unfounded charge is that if you believe in the doctrine of election, you'll have no motivation for election. Evangelism. J.I. Packer sums up that position well. Look at what he says. There is abroad today a widespread suspicion that a robust faith in the absolute sovereignty of God is bound to undermine any adequate sense of human responsibility. Such a faith is thought to be dangerous to spiritual health because it breeds a habit of complacent inertia. In particular, it is thought to paralyze evangelism by robbing one both of the motive to evangelize and of the message to evangelize with. The supposition seems to be that you cannot evangelize effectively unless you are prepared to pretend while you are doing it that the doctrine of divine sovereignty is not true.

26:19So he summarizes that position and then he dismisses it in the same book. Look what he writes. So far from making evangelism pointless, the sovereignty of God and grace is the one thing that prevents evangelism from being pointless. For it creates the possibility, indeed, the certainty, that evangelism will be fruitful. See, friends, we can know for certain that evangelism will be fruitful. And that's because the Bible affirms again and again that God has chosen to save people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. So we can. Go out and share our faith with confidence everywhere because God has chosen to save undeserving sinners all around us.

27:11Far from taking away the motive for evangelism, it is the most powerful motive for evangelism, knowing that by the grace of God, our efforts together will not be unsuccessful. Look at what happens to Paul in Acts chapter 18. He's praying one night, and this is what he writes. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you. For I have many in this city who are my people. And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

27:51So God tells Paul, you stay here and preach, because I have many people in the city. Paul's responsibility was to preach the gospel. Because as we learn in Romans chapter 10, faith comes through hearing. It doesn't come through any other method. It comes through hearing the gospel proclaimed. Paul's responsibility was to preach. God's responsibility was to grant life and faith through the preaching of the gospel, to call his people from death to life, to call his people to repentance and faith in Jesus for salvation.

28:27And so the whole reason that Paul evangelized. With such zeal is because he had this firm foundation of confidence that God had chosen people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to be his people, and that God would bring his people into his fold through Paul's preaching. And, friends, in the same way, when we think about that promise that God has made, the promise to save undeserving sinners and to use us to do it, we're strengthened to endure to the end, to go on proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, even when it's hard at work, even when it's hard on campus, even when it's hard with family members and friends who mock us, who ostracize us, who can't seem to understand why our confidence would be in Christ. We can endure to the end because we gain strength from remembering God's promises. And some of those greatest promises are found in this early Christian hymn that Paul writes in verses 11 through 13. Look there with me.

29:38Paul writes, the saying is trustworthy. For if we have died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. This section contains the first trustworthy saying of this letter. But if you've been with us throughout the year, you know this is the fourth time Paul has used that phrase. And each time he does this, he's giving us these memorable sayings to help us retain key parts of Christian faith and Christian life.

30:28And I want you to notice that this saying is broken down into four what people call epigrams. And an epigram is simply a memorable phrase that's used to communicate truth. So you have these four epigrams, and each one of them is conditional. It's an if-then statement. If this happens, then this will be the result. I also want you to see that the four epigrams appear to be divided into two pairs, where the second statement clarifies and adds nuance to the first statement. And we'll come back to that idea in just a moment. Let's take a look at the first pair of epigrams, and those are written to those who are true and who endure to the end.

31:13So first he says, if we have died with him, we will also live with him. See, the call to follow Jesus is a paradox. It's a paradox. We lose our life so that. We will find it. We give up our life, we lay it down, so that we will have eternal life. Look at what Jesus says in Mark chapter 8. And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

32:00See, the good news is that if we die with Christ, we also rise with him. And to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this is what's pictured in baptism for us. Every time that we see a baptism performed, we are reminded that we died with Christ, we're buried with him, as we are reminded when people go under the water, and that through faith in Christ, we are raised to walk in new life with him.

32:30The paradox of the Christian life is that we die so that we will live. And it's so important in the American church today that we hear that message. Guys, it's important here at New Life that we hear that message. Because I think what I see in our culture today is that so many professing Christians, no matter what we say we believe, we don't live as though this is actually true. The way that we live today is that there actually is no eternal life.

33:00So, we have to squeeze everything we can out of this life. We have to get the perfect job. We have to find the perfect spouse. We have to have the perfect house and the perfect car and the perfect clothes. Because if we don't have those things, we've missed out. This life was our one shot to get those things. That's the message that's sent to us in every commercial and every advertisement. And so, it's critical that we fight against that and we remember that Jesus has said and that Paul has confirmed: if we die with him, we will also live with him.

33:35And then he goes on and he says, If we endure, we will also reign with him. So, those who are going through suffering, going through very difficult trials, but are standing firm to the end, they can know for sure that they will be rewarded. They will reign with Christ. In every election cycle, we have a reminder of this. Because in these election cycles, what you see is men and women running for office, and you've got all of this army of volunteers that are around them. They're out knocking on doors, making phone calls, holding signs up, encouraging people to get out and vote, talking about policies, all of those kinds of things. And what happens when their candidate is elected?

34:27Those are the people who are appointed to positions in the new government. It's not the people that show up after the candidate's elected, like, hey, you got any jobs open? No, I don't. Because I gave them to everybody who endured all of the suffering, all of the trial with us of getting elected. And Jesus is very clear about this in his life and ministry, too. He's very clear that we're going to suffer. Look at Mark 13. He says, but be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial to deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given to you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father, his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

35:41Jesus paints a very bleak picture, doesn't he? That in the last times, and these are the times that we're living in today, friends, that's very clear from all of the New Testament. We live in the last times. That these things are going to happen. They're already happening in many countries of the world. They may not be happening yet here in America, but they are coming here too. We will be hated by all for his namesake. But if we endure to the end, if we hold on to our faith in Christ, we will reign with him.

36:15So that's the good news. Those are the promises to those who are true and who endure. But then Paul has to transition to the false and the faithless. Look what he says. If we deny him, he also will deny us. Well, the word deny in the Greek means to disown or to repudiate. It's to say that you don't even know someone. You have nothing to do with them. You're not connected in any way to that person.

36:48Look at Matthew chapter 10. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Well, if you know anything about the Gospels, you're thinking to yourself, what about Peter? What about Peter? Didn't he deny Jesus? Not just once, but three times. And on the third time that he denied Jesus, he did it with swearing and with oaths. What about Peter?

37:27Well, friends, denying Jesus as God. Grave of a sin as it is, is not the unpardonable sin. It's important to remember that. Peter repented of his denial. And every account that we have, every historical account says that he was eventually martyred for his testimony of faith in Christ. So denying Jesus, grave as it is, is not the unpardonable sin. Paul obviously has something else in mind here. He doesn't have in mind this one moment of weakness, this one moment of failure, but he has in mind a final denial, a complete repudiation, what the Bible calls apostasy. It's saying, I do not believe in Jesus, I will not ever believe in Jesus ever again, and then continuing to live that way until death. That's what Paul has in mind. He says, if you deny Jesus fully, completely, finally, he will also deny you.

38:30And then he goes on to say, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Now, some Christians, when they have read this statement, they think what Paul is saying is that even if we're faithless, that is, if we fall into sin, or if we struggle with unbelief or doubts, even if we're faithless, God remains faithful to us. Well, I want to affirm that. There's no doubt that that's true. As we just said, Peter denied Christ. He was faithless. But what did Jesus do? He went and sought him out. He called him to repentance.

39:14Peter did repent. And then he went on to feed and care for and love Jesus' sheep, just as Jesus commanded him to do. So all over the scripture, you have not only examples, but you have teaching that would say that understanding is correct. If we are faithless, God remains faithful. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary, once said, it is not by trying to be faithful, but in looking to the faithful one that we win the victory. So that is certainly true from Scripture. I just don't think that's what Paul is saying here.

39:52It seems from the context that Paul meant this statement to be paired with the previous statement. The first two statements are obviously paired together. The second statement adds some nuance, adds some clarification to the first statement, and we would expect the same thing to be true here. When you look up this word faithless, the Greek word that's translated faithless here means unbelief. It means to refuse to put your trust in someone or something. And so with that understanding, Paul is communicating if we are faithless, that is, if we do not believe in Jesus, God is still faithful to us. himself, namely, he is faithful to the word that he has spoken. And I want to point you to Revelation 21 that I think sheds some light on this meaning.

40:42This is the angel speaking to John. And he said to me, it is done. Jesus says, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But look at what Jesus says next. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

41:29So from this passage and from our understanding of what the Greek word actually means, what Paul seems to be saying is that even if we are faithless, that is, if we do not believe in Jesus, we don't believe that he is the Son of God who lived and died and rose again on our behalf, God remains faithful to his word. And what is God's word? It is the gospel message that if we repent and we believe in Christ, we will be forgiven and justified and adopted into God's favor. Family. But if we refuse to repent and believe in Christ, we will be justly judged and punished for our sin, for our rebellion against God. Even if we're faithless, God is still faithful. He will keep every one of his promises.

42:19So to recap what we've seen here, if we die, we live. If we endure, we reign. If we deny Jesus, he will deny us. And if we are faithless, he remains faithful because he cannot deny himself. He will never go against his word and his promises. And so, friends, when we think about this passage today and all of these calls to remember all of God's promises here, it only highlights how forgetful we are as people, how badly we need these reminders.

42:56Because in the daily pressures of leading the church and leading his life, Timothy was going to struggle to remember these truths. And the same goes for you and me. In the daily pressures of leading a family or studying for your classes in your major, in the daily pressure of living life in a fallen world, we are tempted to forget Christ, all that he has promised and all that he has done. And it's not that we would, many of us deny him, it's that functionally we would live as though he were not there and as though his promises were not true.

43:31And so we're called in this passage to remember Christ, to remember the gospel, to remember the promises that God has made to us. Through faith in Christ, we will live eternally and we will reign with him in the new heavens and the new earth. And so maybe you're here today and you're not yet a believer in Jesus. Perhaps you've come because you were invited by a friend from work or a classmate. I want you to know that the reason that Christians are willing to endure so much suffering, willing to endure criticism and ostracism, getting kicked out of families and social circles, we're willing to endure all of that so that you would obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

44:20That's why we're willing to put up with anything, so that you would be saved. You see, living the Christian life doesn't get you ahead in this world. You don't earn any points in society for praying, for following Jesus, or for calling others to follow Jesus. On the contrary, you often lose social prestige. You often lose opportunities, maybe your job, maybe your freedom, maybe your life. And so I want you to think on the fact that today your friends, as well as people all around the world who follow Jesus, are willing to endure everything so that you would be saved.

45:00And today you can be saved by turning from your sin and receiving Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection by faith. And if you're here today and you're already a Christian, understand that our forgetfulness is the very reason that we need one another. That's why we gather together every week. That's why we check up on each other throughout the week through life group and other connection opportunities. It's why we celebrate the Lord's Supper together. We do all of that because we need reminders. We are such a forgetful people. So every time we come together, it's to encourage one another and to build one another up and to remind one another of the grace of God and the promises of God.

45:51And so I hope you see this morning that remembering God's promises strengthens us to endure to the end. Let's pray. Father, we come to you now in prayer because we recognize that we can know all of the right things and yet still not live our lives in accordance with them. We come to you in prayer to acknowledge that if you don't Empower us to believe your promises that we will be tempted every day to forget them and to forget you and the wonderful work that you've done.

46:49So we come before you now humbly, asking you, God, please, please help us not to forget. Please help us take seriously our responsibility to encourage each other, to build each other up, to remind each other of the great promises that you have made and the many, many, many promises that you have kept. Father, we pray that we would be a people who remembers Jesus Christ and that the way that we live our lives would point other people to him.

47:36I pray that this week, every single one of us who is a believer in Jesus would have the opportunity to point someone else to Christ. I pray that we would be faithful to do the work of discipleship and that we would be willing to endure anything for the sake of the elect, for your people. God, we pray for courage. We pray for boldness. We pray for help. Because we need all of those things if we're going to be faithful to you.

48:13Thank you for Sunday. Thank you for worship. Thank you for these reminders that we so desperately need, even though most days when we get up on Sunday, we don't feel like we need those things. We don't feel like assembling together and coming. But you know what we need better than we do. And so we thank you and we praise you for your infinite wisdom. In Christ's name, amen.