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Paul's Last Words Concerning the Gospel
“Therefore do not be ashamed of
the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for
the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling,
not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave
us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested
through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy
1:8-10). Second Timothy is the last letter we have on record that
was written by the apostle Paul. This letter was written at a time when he
was shackled up in prison, awaiting his execution by the Roman Emperor
Nero. Sitting in a cold, dank, and
dark prison cell, he had much time to contemplate upon what really
mattered in this life. Thus, this
short letter to his protégé is somewhat of a last will of the apostle’s
instructions urging young Timothy to attend to the weighty and important things
in life. Within this short section, I believe the apostle paints for
us a glorious picture of what the gospel, or Good News, truly is.
And so, I would encourage you to read on as we unpack Paul’s final
words to this world before he departs to the next world.
May the Holy Spirit give enlightenment to show us what makes the
gospel ‘Good News.’ In this short passage, we observe the following truths: 1.
That Paul pleads with Timothy to not be ashamed of the testimony
about Jesus Christ. “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about
our Lord…” Why is Timothy not to be ashamed? Elsewhere, the apostle Paul writes the following to the
church in Rome: “For I am not ashamed of the
gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. For
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is
written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17). As most Bible commentators agree, the “testimony
concerning our Lord” is equivalent in Paul’s mind with “the gospel.” And so Paul urges Timothy not to shy away from proclaiming
the Good News of Jesus Christ when persecution came his way.
Why? Because the gospel is
God’s ordained means to save people from their sins.
Indeed, Timothy must not be ashamed of the gospel, for through the gospel
alone, “God is unleashing His power that produces salvation in those who
believe it” (Romans 1:16, author’s translation). In other words, no gospel, no salvation.
Note carefully Paul’s words later on in his letter to the Romans: “For everyone who calls upon the
name of the Lord (Jesus Christ) will be saved.
But how are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the
Good News” (Romans 10:13-17). The gospel is God’s ordained means of saving His people.
Without the preaching of the gospel, it is impossible for anyone to be
saved from his or her sins. 2.
The 2nd thing we notice from Paul’s exhortation to
Timothy is that the gospel is divisive. “…nor of me his prisoner, but
share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God…” The very reason that Paul is shackled in chains to a Roman
guard in a Roman prison is because he has not been ashamed in the proclaiming
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul is
not in jail because he killed someone or stole something. Rather, Paul is a prisoner because the message he is
preaching is offensive and convicting to those who hate Jesus Christ. The reason the gospel, or Good News, is so offensive is
because within it there is a lot of bad news. The gospel is like the sun: it exposes the impurities and
blemishes that the darkness tries to conceal.
In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ made this quite clear when He said, “And this is the judgment: the
light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light
because their deeds were evil. For
everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light,
lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:19-20). Is this not what the writer to the Hebrews was intimating
when he wrote the following: “For the Word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and
marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed
to the eyes of Him to whom we must given an account” (Hebrews 4:12-13). Just as Jesus was persecuted and killed because wicked and
evil people hated Him, so also are His followers persecuted (see John 15:18-25),
for the Light exposes the darkness of men and women’s wicked and evil hearts. If you hate the gospel, it is because your heart is wicked
and hates the Light. 3.
The 3rd thing we notice is that the gospel reveals that
salvation is a free gift given to us by God through Jesus Christ; our own
good works or merits do cannot earn it. “…Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not
because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace…” Another reason why the gospel is so offensive to the
natural minds of unbelievers is because it declares that our ‘good’ works cannot
of themselves make us right with God. Paul makes it quite evident in the passage that it is God alone
who saves us, and not ourselves. The
Bible unequivocally states that the unbeliever cannot ‘pull themselves up by
their bootstraps’ for the simple reason that they are dead corpses that are
unable to do any good of themselves. For
example, we read: “You were dead in the trespasses
and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons
of disobedience – among whom we all lived in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1-3). Unless God in His sovereign grace raises dead corpses to
life, no one, myself included, would ever be saved from their sins by believing
in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why has God chosen to save His elect in this way?
Paul tells us why: “For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your
own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one
may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). And so Paul reminds Timothy that he must faithfully preach
the Good News – that God in His sovereign mercy and grace is able to freely
save those whom the Holy Spirit quickens through the preaching of the gospel. My plea with any who are trying to earn their salvation by
their ‘good’ works is to stop working, and to start trusting
in Jesus Christ, who died to bring sinners to God by His perfect, atoning
sacrifice. Oh unbeliever, realize this: because God is Light, He cannot
accept any ‘offering’ that you present before Him that is blemished or
imperfect. There is however, one offering that was perfect and
blameless that God the Father accepted, and that is the once-for-all sacrifice
of His Son. All those in Christ
are accepted in Him. Trust
in Him right now. Through Jesus
Christ, God will accept you! 4.
The 4th thing we notice is that Jesus Christ is the
culmination and truest representation of all of God’s promises to save
a people for Himself. “…but because of His own purpose and grace, which He
gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested
through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus…” In the Old Testament, God’s people were longing for the
day when God would Himself come and deliver them from all their enemies.
They were longing for the day when God would visit them and set up His
kingdom to rule over all the nations. This theme of God setting up His rule in the midst of His
people goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, the place where God’s
first representative, Adam, failed and fell through his sin and disobedience to
God. But in God’s great mercy, He promises Adam that another
would come to restore what Adam lost through his sin. In God’s cursing of Satan, we see the great flicker of hope
that has consumed all of God’s people since man’s Fall in the Garden: “The LORD
God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this…I will cause there to
be hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he
shall strike your head, and you shall strike his heel” (Genesis 3:14-15,
Author’s Translation). Indeed, Jesus Christ is the “seed” of Eve, who through
His death (i.e. the bruising of His heel by Satan) would conquer the death that
entered into the Garden by Adam’s sin and destroy the works of the devil (i.e.
the striking of Satan’s head). Why did God so shape history this way?
So that He might receive the maximum amount of glory, which could only
come through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son.
This idea is captured well in the following rendering of the Greek: “For God saved us and called us to
live a holy life. He did this, not
because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning
of time – in order to show us His grace through Jesus Christ.
And He has made all this plain to us by the appearing of Christ
Jesus, our Savior” (2 Timothy 1:9-10a). Indeed, this has been the “mystery” of God from
eternity past: that He might be praised for His glorious grace through Jesus
Christ His Son (see Ephesians 1:3-14 and 3:8-13; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:21-28). All of God’s plans were fully realized in “the
appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus.” Indeed,
as Paul says elsewhere, “For all the promises of God find
their Yes in Him (Jesus Christ). That
is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory” (2
Corinthians 1:20). So, in essence, the gospel proclaims to the world that
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all of God’s promised saving purposes for
His people. In Jesus Christ, the
anticipated Kingdom of God has come, bringing salvation to His people so that
their praise through Jesus might redound to the glory of God Almighty. 5.
The 5th thing we note is that the gospel proclaims that
Jesus’ death and resurrection have done two momentous things for His people:
abolished death and purchased immortal life. “…Who abolished death and brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel…” As we mentioned before, what Adam forfeited in the Garden
through his sinful disobedience, Jesus Christ has purchased through His sinless
life, His brutal death, and His victorious resurrection from the dead. The Bible makes it clear that Adam’s sin is passed to
every human that enters this world (see Romans 5:12). However, the Bible also informs us that Christ’s obedience
is passed on to those who are in Him by faith (Romans 5:19). As a result of Christ’s atonement, eternal death no
longer exists for the believer. Indeed,
the wages of sin lead to eternal death and punishment (Romans 6:23).
But when Christ dies for those sins, death is indeed abolished. Not only is death abolished for the believer, but immortal
life is manifested as well. Indeed,
as Paul says, Jesus Christ has “illuminated” the way to “immortal life”
for us “through the gospel.” The gospel proclaims that all who believe in Jesus Christ
as the “Amen” to God’s redemptive promises will receive eternal life.
Jesus Himself told Nicodemus that this was so: “And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in Him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John
3:14-16). Conclusion:
1.
Paul pleads with Timothy that he would not be ashamed of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, because in the gospel, the power and righteousness of God is
manifested, resulting in the salvation of His elect people. 2.
The gospel is divisive, because it declares that all men are dead in
their sin, and thus can only be saved by the sovereign grace of God. 3.
The gospel reveals that firstly, salvation is a free gift given to
us by God through Jesus Christ, and secondly, that our own good works or merits cannot
earn it. 4.
Jesus Christ is culmination and truest representation of all of
God’s promises to save a people for Himself.
This is why Peter could say, “There is salvation in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”
(Acts 4:12). 5.
The gospel proclaims that through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, eternal
death has been abolished, and immortal life has been manifested to those who are
found in Him by faith. And so my question for you is, have you believed in the
gospel – the Good News concerning Jesus Christ? Jesus offers you eternal life even now.
At the beginning of His earthly ministry, He was freely “proclaiming
the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14-15). The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all
who believe. If you depart from
this life, rejecting the Good News that Jesus died to bring the world, the only
thing that awaits you is the fierce wrath of a holy God and the eternal death
that your sins have earned. But if you receive with joy the Good News Christ purchased
for you, eternal life will become yours, right now! Paul loved people so much that he suffered in prison for
the sake of the gospel. Hear his
last and pleading words before entering the presence of his King.
They are vitally important to him, and they are vitally important for
you. Because Jesus Christ is God, only His righteousness will
hold muster before the throne of the Almighty Judge on Judgment Day.
Cry out to the living Lord right now, and you will be saved from your
sin. The only life worth living is
for the glory of God. The first step in doing so is trusting in the only way God
has ordained that people become acceptable in His sight, and that is believing
in the gospel, or Good News, that His Son, Jesus Christ purchased for you by His
death, burial, and resurrection. Oh that you would be found in Christ on that great Day! Father, the gospel is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to those who are being saved, it displays Your infinite wisdom.
Holy Spirit, awaken dead hearts to see the beauty and glory of the
gospel. Move their affections and
wills to see Christ for all He is and trust their eternal destiny in His
nail-pierced hands. Be glorified in this feeble attempt to adorn the gospel of my
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. Our great desire is to see multitudes come to a saving faith in Jesus
Christ. If you have any questions,
comments, or concerns, we would encourage you to please contact us at: info@LethbridgeBaptist.com. Soli Deo Gloria. Hits: |
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