[0:00] Let us turn to the second book of Timothy and chapter 2. The second book of Timothy and chapter 2. There's a wonderful phrase in this chapter which I want to speak about tonight. I wonder if you noticed it as we read the chapter. It really is wonderful and it's worth looking into.
[0:45] I refer of course to verse 10 and those words at the end of the verse. The salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
[1:08] The salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Isn't that a remarkable description? Isn't it a wonderful phrase that the Apostle brings before Timothy?
[1:26] But not only Timothy. He brings it before us as well because it is in our reading for tonight and it is also our text for tonight. In these letters the Apostle is addressing Timothy about his future work. Timothy was a young man and he was setting out to work as an evangelist. And that was a hard sort of work. Going everywhere, preaching the Gospel. But the Apostle had plenty of experience of that kind of work. And so he seeks to encourage young Timothy. To tell him of the pitfalls. To remind him that there is an adversary. And to bid him Godspeed in his future work.
[2:36] One thing the Apostle brings before Timothy. And that is the need of constancy and perseverance. In the coming years he would need to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
[2:56] And in these words of verse 10. The Apostle, it is the Apostle's word really, to encourage him. And he tells Timothy in this verse 10 what is the main inspiration of his life.
[3:18] And it must be the main theme of Timothy in this verse 10. And it must be the main inspiration. The main theme of Timothy's life and work too. And there we have the words of our text. It's an inspiration.
[3:33] It's what inspired the Apostle Paul to do all that he did in his day as an ambassador of Christ. It's what has inspired all the servants of Christ in every age and in every century.
[3:51] And it is what inspires and encourages the servants of the Lord today as they labour on. The salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
[4:14] Now, there are various points in this text to be touched upon. And I don't propose to deal with the text exhaustively.
[4:33] But I want to deal with the third head which we will come to. I won't say much about the first or the second heads. Just refer to them.
[4:56] But when we come to the third head in this verse, I will have more to say about that. So let us look at 2 Timothy 2.10. What do we have here?
[5:12] Well, first of all, we have a distinguished person. Christ Jesus. And then, secondly, we have an invaluable blessing.
[5:29] Salvation with eternal glory. And then, thirdly and lastly, on which I wish to speak more fully, we have the peculiar source of this blessing.
[5:44] The salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. So let us, first of all, just refer, say a word about a distinguished person that is mentioned in this verse.
[6:05] And we are directed to one who is high above all. To the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.
[6:19] And notice how he is described. The first name in his title is Christ.
[6:31] Christ. And that means that he was the Messiah. He was the Anointed One. He was the Sent One of God, commissioned by his Father to do a great and mighty work.
[6:52] And so, he was not only the gift of God, Christ. He was not only the gift of God.
[7:04] But he was God's holy and anointed one. Anointed by a full and copious outpouring of the Spirit, which rested upon him without measure.
[7:25] And he is anointed as our prophet, priest and king. That's the first name in the title, Christ.
[7:37] And then notice the second name in his title, Jesus. Well, this is the name by which we know him.
[7:55] The Lord and Saviour of us all. It's his human name. It's the name that was given to him by his mother, as we say.
[8:08] It was the name, his everyday name. The name by which he was known and is known.
[8:19] Remember the words in 1st chapter of Matthew, Thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. And Jesus, he was called.
[8:34] And how truly human Jesus always showed himself to be. Oh yes, he was very God of very God.
[8:46] He was a great God and a great king. He was Christ. But he was also bone of our bone.
[8:57] And flesh of our flesh. He was the man, Christ Jesus. And he was very human. If we know anything about the gospel story, as it is given to us, we know how human he was.
[9:15] How wonderful he was in his life. How loving and gentle he was. And yet he could be stern and rebuking too.
[9:29] For example, he always showed himself to be so human in the home. With his father and mother.
[9:41] Just like any other boy. I'm quite sure in the home. And also, when he came of an age to work, he joined his father in the workshop.
[9:57] And he became the carpenter of Nazareth. And no doubt there were other workers working there. And he worked with them.
[10:10] And we believe that he worked hard. He put his very best into it. And then when he was in the desert, in the wilderness, alone, tempted of the devil, how divine he was.
[10:32] And yet, how human he was. And then on the road, when he was journeying from one village to another, when he was meeting people by the wayside, the woman at the well, and those two on the road to Emmaus, he made as though he would have gone further.
[11:04] He was always the great traveller. He was always on the road. He liked to be out there where people were.
[11:18] And how human he was at the graveside. The graveside of Nazareth. What did Jesus do at the graveside of a beloved friend? Well, he just, he just wept.
[11:31] It says he just wept. And that's what a real man would do at the graveside of a loved one. Truly, he fulfilled in his own person that Joshua who was the leader of his people.
[11:49] And also that Joshua who was the high priest of Israel. And in this distinguished person we see infinite dignity, almighty power, but also unbounded compassion and exhaustless love.
[12:14] Christ Jesus. And so we come to the second thing in this text which I wish to touch on. We have here an invaluable blessing.
[12:30] And it's simply referred to as salvation. Salvation, an invaluable blessing. salvation. Now, who do you think in those days would want salvation?
[12:49] Who do you think in those days would look upon it as a blessing to be desired, as a blessing to be sought after? Who do you think?
[13:01] Well, exactly the same as those today who need it. Who need salvation.
[13:13] Exactly, exactly the same as those today for whom it is an invaluable blessing. we talk about the lost state of humanity and it is true that we live in a lost world.
[13:35] And we live in a world where the vast majority of men and women young and old are lost. And not only that, they're sinners in an estate of sin and of misery oh what guilt rests upon mankind.
[13:56] Oh what danger to which men are exposed. But salvation is really good news as it was in the days of the apostle.
[14:13] It's an invaluable blessing. And there are two reasons for that. first, it saves us from sin and from death.
[14:30] The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[14:42] And so wonderful and so complete is it that it not only saves man from sin's guilt and condemnation but it saves man from all the miseries and dangers to which he is exposed through the fall both in this life and in that which is to come.
[15:06] This salvation is a salvation from. But it at the same time saves man to eternal glory and this is specially mentioned in our text in verse 10.
[15:27] The salvation is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory and so it has a positive as well as a negative aspect.
[15:41] It not only saves a man from sin and from hell that's wonderful enough but it saves a man to something more something better something higher a different kind of life a heaven if you like eternal glory in other words it's a salvation which is eternal as to its quality and eternal as to its duration and it is the testimony of the book that glory is the full expanse of expansion of salvation and that eternal glory is the purpose of God for his people.
[16:30] Remember our Lord said when he was here on earth I give unto them his disciples I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
[16:45] And remember the words of the psalmist in the 84th psalm the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
[16:58] What an invaluable blessing salvation which covers the past the present the future of our lives. Oh my friends it's something that we should have something that we should know something that we should possess something that we should sell all that we have in order to gain it to have it.
[17:21] but we come now to the third point to on which I wish to dwell more fully perhaps and that is the peculiar source of this blessing and notice how this phrase reads it is the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory mark that it's in Christ Jesus now this is one of the outstanding emphases of the New Testament that everything the believer possesses is in Christ and so the salvation which is God's gift is in Christ Jesus too reference is made in the epistles more than once to a man in
[18:29] Christ and reference is made more than once to the salvation which is also in Christ Jesus I wonder if anybody here has read the story by Charles Kingsley called Westward Ho it's a bit old hat nowadays but when well when I was a boy it used to be one of the books to read it was a thriller it was it was a great story it was a real adventure Westward Ho and remember what mighty efforts Ammias lay and his company made what terrible sufferings they endured what losses they sustained how why what for searching
[19:48] South America for the mythical Manoa and its glittering gold one of them was terribly disappointed and disillusioned he's called Parson John Brimble Combe and he gives us in the story his lament in these words I think the gold of Manoa is like the gold which lies where the rainbow touches the ground it's always a full field beyond you thank God the gold of the gospel is not like that it's not something that we find at the end of the rainbow it's not something that we find by by by luck perhaps or chance after much searching no it's in
[21:00] Christ Jesus the salvation which is in Christ Jesus unto eternal glory there we find it there we have it and it's sure and certain it's in Christ Jesus now what does this mean well for one thing it means that it's in him as the fountain or source of it salvation is in his person he is its author it is indissolubly connected with the Lord Jesus Christ remember when the aged Simeon came to the temple as we're as is related in the in the second chapter of Luke and took the baby
[22:03] Jesus in his arms remember his words Lord now let earth thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation you see mine eyes have seen thy salvation God's salvation and the same thought is brought before us in the fourth chapter of Acts neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved it's in him because he is the author of it the source of it and it's in him too as the purchaser of it it is salvation in his blood as we're told in the first chapter of
[23:10] Colossians we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins and he purchased this salvation for his redeemed people he bled and died to save them and he procured it for them remember remember the words of the apostle Peter we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot and so he is the great mediator between God and men and as the great mediator he has purchased life and salvation for his people all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the
[24:13] Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities and in the purchasing of this salvation he was nailed to the cross and died the accursed death of the cross but Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us and it's in him because he's bought it he's purchased it he's sealed it he's applied it by his own precious blood and it's in him too as the the giver of it you know the Lord Jesus Christ is the great giver when he was here on earth he was always giving to men and women and to boys and girls and now that he's up in heaven at the right hand of God he's still giving his blessings and his benefits tokens of his love and of his favour his grace which is sufficient for us and his strength which is made perfect in our weakness he is the great giver and salvation is
[25:46] Christ's gift Christ's gift and so it's it's in him he has given it to us he has presented it to us he's he's he's offered it to us as a gift and we remember that at the beginning when our eyes were opened our blinded eyes were opened he gave us new light and new life he brought us from hell's dark door and made us sit in heavenly places he raised us from an horrible pit and from the marie clay he gave it to us at the beginning when we took our first faltering steps in the Christian way and he gives it to us all the way through all the way through by whatever our days and our months and our years may be whatever trials harassments temptations come our way he's he's giving this salvation to us he's he's he's enabling us to to know more of it he's enabling us to to learn more of it to grasp more of it right through life he's sanctifying us perfecting us preparing us blessing us giving his salvation to us and then at the end he gives what we might call the top stone of salvation the eternal glory which is in
[27:58] Christ Jesus so that the apostle says henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which God the righteous judge will give me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his appearing the salvation is in Christ Jesus and the gold of the gospel is in him oh I wonder if there's anybody here tonight who wants this wonderful salvation who would like this wonderful salvation which is in Christ Jesus then you must seek for it in Christ for in him alone it is to be found it's not to be found in man nor in a profession nor in ordinances or duties it's in
[29:06] Christ Jesus and it is for all who believe in his name and so that is why this phrase in the second book of Timothy chapter 2 is such a wonderful phrase the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory let us pray amen oh lord do thou bless thy word to us do thou seal its truth to our hearts and consciences by thy holy spirit do thou bless us each one and bestow upon us the gift of life and salvation take us safely to our homes be with us for the rest of this day fit us and prepare us for the work that lies before us this week and enable us at all times to rejoice in thee hear us in these our prayers and accept of us in
[30:16] Jesus name amen