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2 Timothy 2:8-14, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. 10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. 11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. 14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.
This is an exciting and powerful passage. Paul is urging us to develop an evangelistic heart. Peter told us to be ready always to give an answer to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15). He meant we all need to have evangelistic hearts. We need to be ready to tell others about Christ and how to get to heaven. Paul had an evangelistic heart. He declared, “I’m not ashamed of the gospel, for it’s the power of God to save everyone who believes.” Let’s ask God to give us evangelistic hearts as we feed on Paul’s counsel to his spiritual son Timothy. Remember, Timothy tended to have a fearful spirit and Paul had been laboring to stir up courage and confidence in his young disciple. We all need courage and confidence, especially when it comes to evangelism.
Evangelism is telling others the good news of salvation in Christ and that can take many forms. Some methods have not worked very well. Grabbing someone and saying, “Listen, man, turn or burn!” is not the best approach. Evangelism Explosion is one method. Literature distribution is another. Lunch time evangelism, friendship evangelism, shopping evangelism – these are all ways to get the gospel into people’s lives. Riverfront evangelism, prison evangelism, fitness evangelism, Bible study evangelism, praying evangelism, and invitation evangelism are all forms of getting the message of Christ out there. In our first church in North Vernon, Indiana, we had a blind couple, Ruth and J. C. McLain. Ruth always fearlessly pushed a tract across the counter when she made a purchase. It’s always good to have gospel tracts available.
Don Whitney, in his book on Spiritual Disciplines in the Local Church talks about corporate or body evangelism. Evangelism goes on right here when we meet. Do you come excited about your faith in Christ, looking for people to encourage, ways to minister, singing with love and passion for your Savior? Lost people sense this and think, “These people have something I don’t have!” You may not be the person to lead this person to Christ, but your joyful, loving presence is part of the message of the gospel! Let me add right here, walking around with a doom and gloom outlook and complaining and being miserable is not part of an evangelistic heart. Those early believers in Acts were constantly going on their way rejoicing. That should be true of us. So, how does Paul describe an evangelistic heart in these verses?
AN EVANGELISTIC HEART REMEMBERS AND MAKES MUCH OF JESUS CHRIST.
2 Timothy 2:8, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel,
Don’t you just love that? Warren Wiersbe said it’s like our war cry, “Remember Jesus Christ!” Don’t forget, don’t neglect, don’t ignore, keep on remembering, every day, every hour, every minute—remember Jesus Christ. He’s the heart, center, and core of it all. And if you forget him and get all caught up in activity and doing, doing, doing, you’ll quickly grow weary and lose your evangelistic heart and passion. There are many things to remember about Christ. Let’s focus this morning on four things about Him.
Remember who He is. Jesus Christ is the incarnate God-Man, the greatest mystery and miracle in all human history. Truly God and truly man – one Person, two natures in hypostatic union, virgin conceived, came to this planet in time and space history to rescue sinners from their sin. He’s Jesus, our sinless Savior. He’s Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. Remember His love, kindness, compassion, miracles of healing, feeding multitudes, and his deity flashing out on the Mountain of Transfiguration. Remember His redeeming work, His sacrificial death, His bearing the wrath of God in our place. Remember God made Him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He has been the object of Satan’s attack from the very beginning and the church is responsible to preach Christ and expose the false attacks on Christ. He’s the one and only Savior for mankind.
Remember His resurrection. Risen is in the perfect tense, meaning He has conquered sin and death and will never die again. He died once for all, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. He’s alive! Today He is alive! And for eternity future He will be alive – forever! That’s the ultimate reality. If that tomb is empty (and it is), then Christ is all He said He was. He’s alive, ascended to God’s right hand, and coming back to judge the living and the dead. Awesome thought! Remember John’s vision in Revelation 1:17-18, “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.’” There it is – He said it! “I was dead, and now I’m alive forevermore.” That’s our living hope! And every single human being will give an account to Him and confess He is Lord to the glory of God.
Remember He is the seed of David. He fulfilled all those prophecies of the Old Testament at His first coming and will fulfill the prophecies about His second coming. He is Israel’s Messiah, the promised King David through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesse, and David. This is what we want Ben Shapiro to finally grasp; Christ is the Jews’ promised Messiah.
Remember, He is our message. Paul says, “according to my gospel.” Jesus Christ is the gospel. You may forget a lot of stuff, names, facts, events, who won the world series last year. Who started WW 1? But this right here is something to nail to your memory and remember every day! This is why we have communion – to publicly in church fellowship remember Him until He comes. Jesus Christ is our gospel message. Remember Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” An evangelistic heart knows Christ, believes Him, loves Him, wants to please Him, and wants others to know Him as Lord and Savior. An evangelistic heart keeps Christ front and center, all the time.
AN EVANGELISTIC HEART HAS UNSHAKEABLE CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S WORD.
2 Timothy 2:9, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.
Oh, this is so good. Paul was completely innocent, even though he was being treated as a criminal awaiting his execution. But his evangelistic heart rejoiced in the fact that God’s Word is not bound! “Not imprisoned” is in the perfect tense. God’s Word hasn’t been bound in the past and remains unbound in the present, and indeed, never will be bound or imprisoned. No human or demon can bind the Word of God. God’s Word lives forever and will infallibly accomplish all God sent it to do.
The Bible’s been banned, burned, buried, blasted as evil. They tried to get rid of it in those early persecutions by the Roman Empire. On April 30, 304, Emperor Maximian issued an edict that all Bibles were to be burned. The early church historian Eusebius saw with his own eyes Holy Scriptures being committed to the flames in the marketplaces. Satan tried to bury it under the traditions of the Roman church, but God brought the Reformation that sent that Word blazing out into human hearts. The Roman Catholic Church at times made it illegal to read the Bible. Translations of the Bible into the people’s own tongue were put on the Index of Forbidden Books and God’s people were martyred for reading it. They sent William Tyndale’s English translations into England hidden in bales of merchandise, which were burned whenever found. Critics have tried to laugh it into oblivion. Even in houses of its friends, the Bible has been tamed, blunted, watered down, hidden from the people, changed, deleted in parts, and treated like a smorgasbord, but the Word of God wasn’t bound in Paul’s day and it isn’t bound today. Spurgeon said, “It is not bound because it is the voice of the Almighty.” Luther wrote in his great hymn, “The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still.”
The Bible stands like a rock undaunted ‘Mid the raging storms of time;
Its pages burn with the truth eternal, And they glow with a light sublime.
The Bible stands like a mountain tow’ring Far above the works of men;
It’s truth by none ever was refuted, And destroy it they never can.
The Bible stands tho’ the hills may tumble,
It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
I will plant my feet on its firm foundation,
For the Bible stands.
They’ve legislated the Ten Commandments banned from school-room walls in America, although this past Wednesday Louisiana’s Governor Jeff Landry signed into law that public school classrooms from kindergarten to state-funded universities must display in “large, easily readable font” the Ten Commandments by the start of 2025. Texas’ Lieutenant Governor is working to do the same thing. Educators can remove creation from science books, sin from psychology books, hell from liberal theology books, but they will never remove the living and written Word of God from doing its work. An evangelistic heart has unshakeable confidence in the power of the gospel, and it isn’t like starting up a business hoping it will succeed. Evangelism will succeed because Christ is building His church through the gospel, and He will get the work done.
AN EVANGELISTIC HEART KNOWS GOD WILL SAVE HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE.
2 Timothy 2:10, For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with its eternal glory.
Here’s where it gets really good. What motivated Paul to endure all the suffering and afflictions, all the hardship he faced? Why does he put up with being treated as a criminal? He did it for this reason – he knew God has people out there who still need to be saved. He believed in the doctrine of sovereign divine election, that before the foundation of the world God had chosen a vast number of people that He would save. Paul wrote about this in Ephesians 1:4, “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Paul knew when he preached the gospel, God would save those He intended to save. He preached the gospel in Pisidian Antioch, and this is what happened.
Acts 13:48, When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
If you are genuinely trusting in Christ, then God chose you to be saved. Why did He choose you? Not because He knew you’d believe or because He saw something better in you than in others. No, you and I were as depraved, corrupt, and as spiritually dead in our souls as everyone else. God chose people because of His own reasons, according to His own perfect will, and for His own good pleasure. As a believer you should just give Him all the glory, thanking Him for calling you out of the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light. And notice, Paul says when you obtain salvation in Christ, it will inevitably and assuredly lead to eternal glory. That is the blessed assurance we sing about. God never starts to save someone and then drops them. Jesus promised in John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Some think, well if God has already chosen people to be saved, why do we need to tell them? Paul gives us the answer – in order that they might hear the gospel and be saved. Paul believed in the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. All men are sinners and at enmity with God. We don’t naturally like God. We like ourselves. If God hadn’t chosen people to be saved, no one would come to Christ. But God graciously and mercifully and sovereignly did choose an unknown number of sinners from every nation and tribe and tongue throughout the ages.
The question is, how will these chosen people obtain that salvation? It is through the gospel. That’s why Paul had an evangelistic heart. God uses the gospel to save His people. People must hear the gospel. That’s what motivated the great evangelist George Whitefield, He firmly believed God had a chosen or elect people and He uses the gospel to save them. So, he preached powerfully in England, warning people about God’s judgment and encouraging sinners of all kinds to come to Christ. He crossed the Atlantic 13 times and preached all along the eastern seaboard of those early colonies about man’s sin and God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ.
This verse, 2 Timothy 2:10, is the best verse I know that teaches the necessity and the privilege of evangelism. God has people out there who still need to hear, and God uses people like you and me to bring them that message. God doesn’t use angels or write it in the sky. How did you come to Christ? Was it a friend? A parent or a pastor? A Sunday School teacher? A speaker on the radio? Maybe a book, but that book was written by a man or woman. We see evangelism in Acts 18 in Corinth. Acts 18:9-11, “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.’ And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”
What a privilege to be involved in God’s work like this. Evangelism isn’t trying to sell a product and then feeling like a failure if they don’t receive it. It isn’t some slick method to get people to bite the bait. Evangelism is giving out the Word of God, trusting completely in the power of that Word as it is shadowed by the Spirit to bring new life to that soul. And God uses people to do this. Imagine the joys of heaven when you see someone God had you influence for Christ! There they are inheriting eternal glory with you! Evangelism is the privilege of being involved in this sure-fire work.
AN EVANGELISTIC HEART WILL BE FAITHFUL TO CHRIST, REGARDLESS OF THE HARDSHIP.
2 Timothy 2:11-13, It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
If the gospel gets you in trouble, if you are persecuted because of the gospel like Paul was, remember your hope. There is encouragement and a warning in verses 12-13.
1. Be willing to stand boldly for Christ. If you die for Christ, you’ll live with him. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, “We had the sentence of death in us, so that our trust might be in God, not ourselves.” If you hang in there and endure, remember God will bless you in the future. You’ll reign with him.
2. Beware of denying or rejecting Christ. I believe Paul is talking here about unregenerate people. Persecution has a way of sifting the tares from the wheat, of exposing fake Christians. When the heat turns up, they turn away from Christ and deny Him. True, there are lapses in our lives, like Peter’s denial. But it was temporary. Peter went out and wept bitterly. Peter was a believer.
Verse 13 reminds me of this current trend called deconstructing your faith. Just remember, people’s response to Christ doesn’t change Christ’s faithfulness to His promises and warnings. Christ remains faithful to who He is. He never changes and He will never deny Himself.
SO WHAT?
Do you have an evangelistic heart? Are you remembering Jesus Christ? Are you confident in the Word of God, knowing God has His chosen people who need to hear the gospel? Are you willing to be faithful to Christ, regardless of hardship? May God give each of us such a heart. Pray for lost people. Be ready to talk about Jesus with others. Keep a good gospel tract handy. And if you are here without Christ, may God give you a heart to trust Him even now. There are only two kinds of people in the world, lost and saved. Those who have Christ, and those who don’t. Make sure today that you have Christ and are saved.