Apply Within

Guest (Male): The prodigal son came to himself. In his own mind he thought, what am I doing? It took him a long time. I mean, you've got to give him that. Some people say was it a year or so? No, it looks like it was years and years of his life. It took him a long time, but you know what? He was still the father's son. She was still the father's daughter.

The prodigals, when they come home, Jesus says I never would turn them away. There is grace in the Lord. There is complete and total forgiveness in Jesus Christ. So come to Jesus today. And if you've drifted, and we all do, come back.

Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply what's within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. As our study of 2 Timothy chapter 2 continues in verse 8, Paul encourages Timothy to stick with the gospel in spite of whatever trouble comes his way. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. You think, man, he just changed subjects. He's talking about a soldier, talking about an athlete, talking about a farmer, and he says think about these things. Now, remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.

Here's what Paul's point is. Remember the ultimate example of enduring. I'm calling upon you, Timothy, to endure. Endure hardships, a good soldier, a good athlete, a good farmer. I'm calling upon you, you do that in the power of the Holy Spirit. And remember the ultimate example of enduring through suffering, enduring through trials, enduring through people rejecting Him.

He loved and they hated, and the more He loved the more they hated. And He never quit loving and He never let up and He never let go. So He's the perfect example, the ultimate example. He's the one who endured all that suffering and all that shame for God's glory. For God's glory and for your and my forgiveness. For our sin, He suffered willingly. He bled there and He died.

He says remember Jesus, who will sit on the throne and rule and reign for all eternity. Remember that Jesus is risen from the dead. He says remember that. You say, well, I'm a Christian, I do. No, no, no, stop it and remember right now. Jesus died on the cross for my sin and for yours, for Timothy's and Paul's, for the sin of the world.

He died there, was buried, and on the third day He rose again. He is alive. And man oh man, how people hate that in the world. They hate it. They want to prove He's not. Do you know how many people have been born again by researching it to prove that Jesus didn't rise from the dead? Do you know there are many, many and that's their testimony. I wanted to prove Jesus did not rise from the dead and now I am a believer too.

Jesus is risen from the dead. That's good news. Who is it good news to? Well, the truth is, like it or not, it's good news to every one of us. Some just aren't interested in good news. I just don't want to hear it, they say. Still good news. Someone loves you. Someone loves you so much that He paid the price for you, your sin.

And I remember as a young Christian, I heard the pastor say it so many times: if you would have been the only sinner of all mankind, Jesus would have come down and died for you alone. And that's true. According to God's Word, it's true. And I thought for a while I was the only sinner. Then I met some of you. We all can humble ourselves and willingly say I need Jesus. I needed Him in 1973 and I need Him now in the year whatever this is. I can't remember anymore.

Why? Well, because Timothy, you're consumed so often with your own trouble. And sometimes when the pressure's on you or when you're suffering or when you're afraid or when you're confused or when someone has hurt you or shoved you away or whatever, what happens is you have this tendency to be consumed with your own struggle. And I understand that. If you catch yourself that way, you are not alone. That's us. And so Timothy had to be reminded. I know it's hard for you, Timothy, so remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David. Remember Him.

Don't become so focused on your own trials, your own discomforts. Don't be so focused on that, on your struggles or your problems. They're there and they'll be there tomorrow unless God takes them away and He will if you'll let Him. God will work it through. But here's the deal. This is what he's saying. Don't be focused on that because once you are, you kind of forget Jesus Christ Himself and what He has done.

Because of the gospel, he says he just mentioned according to my gospel, verse 9, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but the Word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Paul says that gospel, that good news, I'm suffering because of it.

I suffer because I preach Jesus Christ, because I preach the gospel, because I teach God's Word. That's why I'm in prison right now, he says. That's the very reason I'm in prison. And you know what we have seen and you are seeing? If you will teach the Word of God, if you will preach the gospel, you will get into trouble too. And Paul says you'd be in good company, but you will get into trouble.

If you stand for the Word of God, you may be in trouble a lot. He says in trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, chains. He says I'm accused of being an evildoer and I've been imprisoned because of God's Word and because of Jesus Christ. He's in chains for Jesus. He's chained up like a violent criminal because He taught people God loved them.

And Paul's point to Timothy is what? Or to me and you? This could happen to you, Timothy. I'm in here because of Jesus Christ, because of the gospel. This could happen to anyone. Look around the world. This is happening to Christians. They're being imprisoned, beaten, tortured. So his point: endure the hardships as a good soldier.

Endure the hardships as a farmer who has to get out and plow this land that everybody says nothing could grow here. To work and to work and to work. Endure it, Timothy. But here's good news. Paul says I'm locked up, but don't let that worry you. Yes, I'm locked away, but the gospel is not locked up. Notice that? He says the Word of God is not locked away.

God's Word with Paul locked in chains in a dungeon, God's Word was going forth and he sent this letter to Timothy and he writes to Titus and he sends letters and sends greetings and God's Word is still going out. Not just from Paul, but there are other guys out there like Timothy, like Titus, like many in Paul's team, and the Word of God is still going forth. So you notice this, Paul writes from a prison cell and he says the Word of God is not locked up.

I think about this verse that the Word of God is not bound and it never can be. I think about what Paul says here every time I hear about a nation, and there are many on this planet right now, that will not allow Bibles even in their land. They will not allow Bibles in. For instance, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia. Bibles are illegal. Some in China, supposedly it's supposed to be legal but you still have to smuggle them in.

Certain places in Africa, you can't take Bibles. You endure these hardships, Paul says, I'm in prison and I'm enduring these hardships so everyone has a chance to obtain salvation and it's only available in and through Jesus Christ. I think some people are just going to say no thank you. I do believe Christians sometimes, you and I, think our job is to make them accept Jesus. But you can't do that. You cannot be responsible for their response, but you can invite them.

And you tell people Jesus loves you and you can have eternal life. I'm not going to fight about your lifestyle. I'm not going to fight about your hair color. I'm not going to fight about whether you want to pierce your body or what. You know what, you do whatever you want to do. Here's what I want you to know: Jesus loves you. And He wants you to come to Him and He died so that you could have life and you could have eternal life freely given to you.

Will you take Jesus? They might say you're crazy, I don't want to hear it. There's someone else who might. We'll just continue to tell people about Jesus, right? Well, look at verse 11. 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. Verse 12, if we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful, He cannot deny Himself.

Paul reminds us literally, He says this: if we have died with Jesus, we are also alive with Him, or we also live with Him. What did He mean, die with Jesus? I think every one of you understands that, right? At the cross when Jesus died, when I came to Jesus Christ, I died with Him also. And so when you're baptized, it's symbolic you're going, you've died and risen again with Jesus Christ. Where did you die? When? At the cross.

Paul says in Galatians 2:20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Then he says this: if we suffer, remember because He suffered. If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him too.

If we deny Him, just literally say I don't want Him, I am not His, then He will deny us as well and say they're not mine, I don't know them. Paul is making the very same point that James makes. People say Paul and James contradict each other. If you read through Paul's writings and through James, they contradict each other. Paul is making the very same point that James makes in James chapter 2, verses 17 and 18. Listen and you'll see how these go together.

James says this: even so faith, if it does not have works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say you have faith and I have works. He says show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works. Basically, faith without works is dead. That's what Paul's saying here. What Paul and James are saying does make perfect sense.

If we truly belong to Jesus and have placed our faith and our trust in Him, it will show in our lives. We're not going to be perfect. We'll still need Jesus. There will still be times when we've got to confess and even repent because we're people and that's the way it works. But if you've placed your faith and trust in Jesus, it's going to show in our lives. Faith, by that I mean real faith, will always produce works in us is what they're both saying.

And I love the next part. He says if we believe not, He still remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself. So think about that because that sounds confusing. He's talking about a truly born again person. If we, Paul even including himself, he's talking about a person born again who is unfaithful. Have you ever, Christian, knowingly, know that you're born again, have you walked out and been unfaithful and disobedient to God? Ever?

Come on, don't lie to me. I'll wait. Sure, come on, sure. I have. Have you? Peter did, remember? Big time. Lot worse than probably most of us have. He's talking about a truly born again person being unfaithful. Jesus will never deny Himself. What does that mean? Listen closely. If Jesus Christ is in your heart, He will never deny that He's there because He cannot deny Himself.

Even if you as a prodigal have wandered off, the father didn't say he is no longer my son. The guy's a loser and a weasel and he wasted his money on the girls and on the stuff. What did the father say? When the father saw this kid coming home, what did the father do? He ran to meet him. And while the kid was trying to apologize and the kid was saying don't even call me your son, the father's busy saying put a ring on his finger, shoes on foot, put royal robes on him. This is my son. He would never deny himself.

Jesus won't do that. If Christ is in your heart, He will never deny you, even if you as a prodigal have wandered from Him. You know what? There is grace. There is so much grace in the Lord. He is, the Bible says, full of grace. He is rich in grace and mercy. Now that doesn't mean I should just run out and join the circus. No, no, no. What we want, remember, faith will cause me to still want to.

The prodigal son came to himself. He just in his own mind thought, what am I doing? It took him a long time. You gotta give him that. Some people say was it a year or so? No, it looks like it was years and years of his life. It took him a long time, but you know what, he was still the father's son. She was still the father's daughter.

The prodigals, when they come home, Jesus says I never would turn them away. There is grace in the Lord. There's complete and total forgiveness in Jesus Christ. So come to Jesus today. And if you've drifted, and we all do, come back. Just like a prodigal, Lord, I want to come home in my father's house. The lowest in my father's house are doing better than everybody out there. I just want to go home. Come back to Jesus, give Him your heart.

Of these things, put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. The verb here, when he says it in verse 14 of these things, put them in remembrance, you remind them. This verb here is in the present imperative tense. Didn't you hate that in school when the teacher said diagram the sentence present imperative? I go, whoa, whoa, that's groovy. Let's talk about something important.

Present imperative meaning this was Timothy's not just once in a great while when he got a chance. You need to remind them regularly. Remind them daily, remind them all the time. It needs to be your common practice. Not just once every great once in a while. Daily reminding others of these things. Now he's not just writing to Timothy. This is to you and to me.

Every one of us that names the name of Jesus Christ, we have a responsibility to help people remember that they belong to Jesus. Remind them regularly. People do have a tendency of complaining. Have you noticed that? Not us. I meant people. They just complain. Put them in remembrance of these things, charging them before the Lord.

So understand that everything that you and I are doing, when we walk with the Lord, everything, every day, really it's before the Lord. If you want another way to say that, walking in the presence of the Lord God Himself. We walk before the Lord. And God said to Abraham, you walk before me and be upright. What did He just say? Walk, I'm right with you, I'm right here. Walk in my presence. Let's go. We're going to do this together. It's in the presence of the Lord.

And he says here's what you want to charge them. This may surprise you. I know I read it to you already but in the presence of God, knowing that He's right here walking with me and you as we're walking down the street or as we're getting in our car to go to work, and then he's riding with them, right? He says don't strive about words. Man, he must have met us before we got here. He must have known all about me and you.

Don't strive about words. Literally, that strive means arguing or disputing about words. The idea is empty words. Paul tells Timothy here that these disputes or arguments or striving about words is a complete waste of time. Now I know everybody's going to fight about it, but strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. There is no profit in you and I fighting over words.

This is what Paul told Timothy, if you'll recall, about false teachers and false doctrine. Remember he said it was empty, it was useless, it's wasted words. It's time. If you're listening to them, you are throwing your time away. Here, Titus 3:9, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and striving about the law. Would you do me a favor, those of you who like to argue about the law, would you underline that and memorize the verse?

You'd save me a lot of emails. You'd save yourself a lot of wasted time. But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and striving about the law for they are unprofitable and vain, empty and completely useless. That's what he says to Titus. That's written to all believers. In fact, Paul writes this to all Christians everywhere in Ephesians chapter 5, verses 15 and 16.

See then that you walk circumspectly. That word means you walk paying attention to every place you put your foot. You know when you're walking, you ever walk in the dark and you can't see and usually your arms are out ahead trying to protect you from what's there and you're walking very carefully making sure you've got solid footing? That's what circumspectly means.

Christian, in our Christian walk, we should be paying attention to every place we put our foot. Every place we make a step. Walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Redeeming the time. Paul just said if you argue about words, strife over words, useless words, you are wasting time.

We are called to walk circumspectly, carefully, pay attention to everywhere we go. Walk as wise, not as fools, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Our time, your time and mine, is valuable. And we only have so much of it. And I'm not talking about length of days. I'm talking about today God gave you, if we make it to midnight, 24 hours. We should spend it wisely.

And you know what, this is the truth. It doesn't matter what your IQ level is, does it? You might be brilliant or you might be way down here with me. But you still have the same amount of time I do today. You may be very rich or you may be dirt poor, but it doesn't matter, you still have the same amount of time I do today, don't you?

We could certainly do something today. No matter where you live on this planet, God has given you today. And every day is mine to spend and yours to spend how we choose. You say I have to work. Yeah, well, even at work you're choosing how you spend it, aren't you? Sure. We're learning here that you can redeem the time or you can waste the time. But it is your time.

And we're being encouraged here in 2 Timothy, we're being encouraged not to waste our time but to redeem it. Take advantage of the time that we're given. And I notice that as I get a little older now, I notice that I have this desire to do more. I want to do more. I want to get busy because everybody tells me I'm old and don't eat right and so I'll be dead any moment.

So you know, you want to do something. You want to use your time and teach God's Word to whoever you could get to listen to it. You want to share Jesus Christ and find ways how to do that outside of these walls or to those who will take it outside of these walls. So we have all that to do. He says not only is it a waste of time to strive or argue about empty words, but it could hurt those who listen.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at northcountrychapel.com/studies. That's northcountrychapel.com/studies.

If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the live stream of our services, or to find out more about church events.

If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse by verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel. God bless you.