Faithful to His Word

“It is a faithful saying, For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him, if we deny Him, He will also deny us: If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.”  II Timothy 2:11-13

Paul continued to advise and admonish his protege, Timothy, a young pastor, in the things that would help him in his ministry.  Timothy, like all Christians, can be called soldiers in Christ’s army.  A good soldier will fight to the finish to obey his orders, but he will really put his heart into the fight if he believes in the cause for which he is fighting.  If Timothy had any hesitation to preach the gospel because of hardships and persecutions that he would face, Paul urged him to look at Jesus, who came from King David’s lineage, as Jesus endured constant persecution, immense physical suffering, and death on the cross, more suffering than any person has ever received by choice, yet He arose to conquer death, suffering, and evil.

Paul also suffered.  It was the gospel of Christ that Paul preached which brought all sorts of troubles upon him.  Rather than respect and admiration for obeying God and sharing the only way to God through Jesus Christ, Paul was treated as one who committed horrible crimes and was incarcerated more than once.  Those who sentenced him to prison thought that their decisions would halt the spread of the gospel, but they were so wrong.  No one can lock away the word of God.  Those who reject Christ cannot stop Him from moving on to those who will receive Him.  Jesus said the Holy Spirit was like the wind: it comes and goes, but it can’t be harnessed by man (John 3:8).  God’s word always accomplishes that for which God intended (Isaiah 55:11).

Paul didn’t dwell on the suffering that he endured because of his obedience to preach the gospel.  You know how some folks carry on so because of a paper cut?  Paul nearly lost his life several times, yet he picked himself up and continued to carry the gospel of Christ to every location to which God sent him.  What is some suffering on earth compared to heaven and to the fact that one’s witness led multitudes to arise to glory?  The suffering that a believer endures because he or she is a believer is usually due to those in the unsaved world because they don’t want to believe that they are sinners.  In their minds, they may believe that becoming a Christian is having to follow rules and regulations, but what they don’t understand is that an unbeliever is the one living under rules and regulations, those set down by Satan.  They believe they are free to choose to live as they please, but they don’t realize that they are in bondage to their sin.

Paul wrote that he endured all things for the elect’s sake.  Who are the elect?  This is one of the most highly controversial terms in scripture.  The elect are those whose salvation is chosen by God.  In other words, God “elects” to save or not to save whomever He desires.  According to the way that some believe, repentance and faith are the consequences of salvation, not the conditions for salvation.  They feel that to be able to decide for Christ when conviction is brought upon a person is considered a “work” and not grace.  In contrast, the other main view is that repentance and faith are conditions of salvation.  In other words, when conviction comes upon a person by the Holy Spirit, that is, a knowledge that the sinner is not right with God and needs to repent and place his or her faith in Jesus Christ, then the person either rejects outright or receives that offer, repents, and trusts Christ because God has given people free will.  Even though God has foreknowledge of how a person will respond to the call of the Holy Spirit, that doesn’t alter a person’s free will.  The concept of predestination is rather difficult, no, actually impossible for the human mind to understand.  God chooses those whom He will save (Ephesians 1:5), and He desires that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4).  Titus 2:11 tells us that God’s grace that brings salvation has appeared to all people, and that no one has an excuse to reject the Lord (Romans 1:20).  Even the most brilliant Bible scholars can’t explain this, but God is sovereign, and He doesn’t make mistakes.

Paul then stated what he called a “faithful saying” for it is the truth of God backed by His faithfulness to do whatever He has promised: if we have dedicated our lives to Christ and have become dead to the world, suffering the world’s persecutions and hatred, then we will live all eternity with Christ in a perfect environment.  This statement was made to contrast those who are truly born again with those who deny Christ.  If we suffer because we are Christians, committed to Christ, we shall reign with Him in glory, but if we deny Him, that is, reject Him as Lord and Savior, He will deny us.  Paul also said that if we don’t truly believe in Christ, He is still faithful to His word, faithful to His promises, and faithful to not let unbelievers escape without accountability.  There used to be a bumper sticker that proclaimed, “God said it.  I believe it.  And that settles it”.   Those who truly understand the sovereignty of God know that whether one believes God or not, it is still settled.  Jesus will never deny Himself.  He will never second guess, backslide, doubt His own words, and He will never break a promise.  Whatever folks believe doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is King and Savior, and that He will return to earth whenever His Father gives the “go ahead” which may be sooner rather than later.