2019.02.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Timothy 2:19

Read 2 Timothy 2:19

Questions for Littles: How firm is the foundation described in this verse? Whose foundation is it? What has God given it / put on it to confirm that it is true? Of what does this seal consist? Whose knowledge is referred to by the first saying of this “seal”? What does the Lord know? Whose activity is described in the second saying of this “seal”? What do those who name the name of the Lord do?

In the Scripture for this week’s sermon, we were reminded from where comes—and where is, and will always be!—the solid foundation for our hope: in God Himself.

I think that if you listen today to the conversations of those who claim to be Christians, and observe what kind of books they read, and the kinds of comments that they make on social media, that you will conclude that there are many strange teachings that are designed to shake Christians up and rile Christians up over things that distract them from loving and obeying Christ.

That’s not new. It was happening in Ephesus too. There were some who were being tossed to and fro by strange and alarmist teaching.

There were even some who were preaching in the churches that they had missed the resurrection. And such idle babblings were distractions that were leading to ungodliness.

But for one group of people in the church, these teachings could not shake them. Those who had a sturdy confidence that the work that had begun in them was begun by God, and that He would perfect it; He Himself would bring it to its proper completion. They were absolutely sure that “the Lord knows those who are His.”

So, what did such believers give their lives to doing? “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” They were pursuing sanctification. That holiness that they were sure that God would work in them, because without it they would not see the Lord.

Or to quote 1 John, “We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who hopes thus purifies himself even as He is pure.” And so here are some important questions: “How pure is Jesus? When will you reach a point that you no longer have to work out, fight for, wrestle for purification unto holiness?”

What are the ways that Jesus has given you to pursue holiness? What use of them do you make in your personal daily life? With your family? In the congregation?

Suggested Songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH413 “Revive Thy Work, O Lord”