Amen. Well, good morning brothers and sisters. If you would open your Bible to 2 Timothy 1. We'll be back in 2 Timothy 1 this morning. We'll begin reading again in verse 6. Hear the Word of the living God. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me." And so, Father, again, we come before Your holy presence with Your Word open, and we plead with You, Lord, for the power of Your Spirit And again, with my brother, I pray, Lord, that You would drive out of us fear and shame over the Gospel. And make us an unashamed people for Your testimony and for Your salvation. Help us now, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Well, this is our third sermon in 2 Timothy chapter one. And if we have seen anything thus far, we have seen Paul's urgency to exhort Timothy under the current circumstances to spur him on to be faithful in the ministry that God has given him. That's really the overarching theme of this chapter. And I think by the time that we finish the epistle, we will be able to say that perhaps this is the main theme of the entire epistle. That Paul is writing to Timothy from prison with few remaining days, and he's exhorting him to remain faithful despite his circumstances, despite what happens, to finish the ministry and to finish his race in the same way that Paul has now finished his. And our text from this morning makes this very clear. If Timothy is going to be faithful to his Lord and faithful to fulfill his ministry, he's going to have to do it being unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. the primary theme that arises out of this text this morning, is that Timothy, and by implication, all of us, all believers, everywhere and at all times, must be unashamed of the Gospel of Christ. And we have seen in our study of 1 Timothy and thus far in 2 Timothy, that there are many challenges to Timothy's faithfulness. There are many reasons why he might be attempted to be ashamed. He may be tempted to be a coward. And I want to quickly lay out some of these challenges, and as I am doing so, I want you to think about how these challenges may be challenges for us today, and tempting Christians today to be ashamed of Christ. Challenge number one. There are very articulate, charismatic, false teachers that have arisen from within the church that are leading people away from Pauline sound doctrine. Sound familiar? Challenge number two. Timothy's natural disposition and his own sinful flesh toward timidity and being a coward and being fearful provide great challenges for him in fulfilling his ministry, which requires him to come against those false teachers and rebuke them and exhort them not to teach false doctrine. And challenge number three, Paul, the beloved apostle, has been imprisoned on behalf of the Gospel, and he's been abandoned by numerous people that at one time professed to know the Lord. and walk with the Lord. But yet, at this point in time, when Paul is in prison, they've turned away from him and turned away from the Lord and back to the world. And Timothy's association with Paul, who's in prison, will surely bring suffering for himself. Challenge number four. There is a wicked emperor named Nero who does not fear the God of the Bible. who is full of pride and full of arrogance and who is seeking to persecute Christians. And while Christians have thus far largely experienced peace from the Roman state and tranquility from the Roman government, they can tell that the atmosphere is quickly changing and that tranquility is quickly becoming hostility. And we could probably list more. But these are some of the reasons why Timothy might be tempted to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Now let me ask you, do any of these challenges, by application, ring true for us today? or for Christians around the world. Absolutely, they do. And the Lord has graciously given us an incredible text of Scripture that shows a variety of ways in which the Lord empowers Christians, despite the challenges, despite the circumstances, to be unashamed of the Gospel of Christ. And let me just say this, when I say gospel, I am not truncating that down to the core historical facts that make up the gospel. I am talking about, like Luke said in Luke 1, all that Jesus began to do and teach. What He did and what He taught. That makes up the Gospel. All of His claims, His teachings, all of His miracles, all of the aspects of His redemptive work. The Bible just simply does not separate Jesus' teachings from His redemptive work. It does not do this. So you can't say, I want to be a recipient of Jesus' benefits, but I don't want to conform to His ethical system. You simply cannot say, I believe Jesus died and was raised from the dead. I believe He's the way of salvation, but I don't believe He was right when it came to marriage, or money, or murder, or whatever you might say. The Bible never speaks of discipleship that way, brothers and sisters. Jesus Himself makes this very clear in Luke 9.46 where He says this, for whoever is ashamed, there's our word, for whoever is ashamed of Me, and listen, and of My words, of Him, will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. It is a very serious thing, brothers and sisters, to be ashamed of Christ. It is a very serious thing to be ashamed of Christ. It has eternal consequences. In Revelation 21, 6-8, the Lord Jesus includes the cowardly along with the sexually immoral, and the faithless, and murderers, and idolaters, and sorcerers, and liars. And He says that their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. which is the second death. And so in the same way that Christians cannot tolerate sexual immorality, and they have to fight it and strive to put it to death by the Spirit and live, we must crucify and fight cowardice. And shame over the Gospel. And put it to death and live. And sadly, all of us, probably, would confess that we fall very short here. I can think of no other sin that plagues the conscience of a child of God more than cowardice over the Gospel. How many times I myself have stood there and had the opportunity to speak for Him, and I did not open my mouth. And I kept walking. And I kept going. All of us have had opportunities to speak for Christ, to proclaim for Christ, yet for whatever reason, we have shrunk back. But here's the good news. Even when all abandoned Him, and even when all were ashamed of Him, Christ remained faithful and suffered death for the truth. You remember when he stood trial before Pontius Pilate. Paul reminds Timothy of this back in 1 Timothy 6.13 when he says, Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate, made the good confession. He's referring to when Jesus is on trial before Pilate and Pilate says to him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus, knowing that an affirmative answer will cost Him His life, stands fast and declares the truth. You have said so. And He dies for the truth. So brothers and sisters, the only person who has been fully and perfectly unashamed of Jesus is Jesus. And He declared who He was and is. And yet, He has given us by His Spirit power. Power to be unashamed of Him. He has not left us to do this alone. He has not left it for the strong of heart. He's given all of the people of God His Spirit to embolden us not to be ashamed. And what I want to do this morning is put before you nine spiritual motivations, and I've got all of these in your bulletin, that I believe come out of this text. Nine spiritual, I'm talking about spiritual, from power from on high, motivations and empowerments that God gives us to be unashamed of the Gospel. Now, we'll have to move quickly through these, but I trust that as we see the glory of God in Christ, that it will encourage our hearts as we see these things in this passage. So, number one, we are to be unashamed of the Gospel because God has empowered us to be unashamed. Looking at verse 7. We studied this last week, so I don't want to say much more about it, other than to remind us that God did not give Timothy the things that were opposing his ministry, which is for him, fear. God did not give Timothy a spirit of fear, but rather He gave him power and love and self-control. God does not give us character flaws and character dispositions that make us to be ashamed of the Gospel. And so whatever rises up from our flesh, or springs up from the world, or from our enemy that tempts us to be ashamed of Christ, it's not from God. It's not from God. Rather, God gives us everything we need in His Spirit to be unashamed. Resources from heaven for you. to be unashamed. I'm not talking about just trying to be a little bolder in your flesh. I'm not talking about people who just have a disposition toward being confrontational. I'm talking about Spirit-given boldness in Christ. And then moving into v. 8, we see that Paul has been imprisoned. He says, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel. Paul has been imprisoned. And now Timothy, because of Paul, may face mockery. He may face opposition. He may face persecution. And he will face these because of the Gospel. And because of Paul's proclamation of the Gospel. And yet, Paul calls Timothy in verse 8, to share in suffering for the gospel. But notice how he is to share in suffering. He says, by the power of God. God Himself. God Himself who has given the gospel, which brings persecution, will empower those who preach it to be bold. and to share in suffering for it. To be unashamed until the very end for the glory of Jesus who suffered shame and who endured and who pressed on and suffered mocking and spitting and laughing and He died for our sake. What a call! Do not be ashamed for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Do not be ashamed of His gospel. What a call. What a privilege to be called to this. Romans 1.16, we all know this. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. Why? For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. This Gospel is so glorious that it is worth suffering for. It's worth laying our lives down for. And it's glorious in part because of what it does for all the world. It's salvation for all the world. But we get to share in that glory. We get to share in that salvation. Paul is not calling Timothy to suffer for something that he has no share in. Paul is calling Timothy to suffer for the Gospel by which he has been saved. And this leads us right into the second motivation for being unashamed of the Gospel. We are to be unashamed of the Gospel because through the Gospel, God has saved us from His coming wrath. Says in verse 9, Sharon's suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us. Who saved us. Saved from what? Saved from God. God saved us from God. From His coming wrath upon sin. He says in Ephesians 1, we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. like the rest of mankind. But listen, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been what? Saved. Saved. What a blessing it is to wake up in the morning and say, I'm saved. To know that if you die in a car accident, you're saved. that if the Lord were to return today, you're saved from the coming wrath. This minor affliction, the light wrath that we might receive from the world over the Gospel is nothing, nothing in comparison to the coming wrath of God on the world because of sin and unrighteousness. It pales in comparison to the coming judgment. What could empower Christians to be more unashamed of the Gospel than to know that it is this message that I have been saved from the coming wrath? over sin. Saved from eternal destruction. And Jesus gets at this in Matthew 10.28. He says, and do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. And because of the gospel, brothers and sisters, we no longer have to fear God in a condemnation type sense. We no longer have to fear being destroyed in hell because of the gospel. Therefore, be unashamed of it. Preach it. Proclaim it. And he says very similarly, leads us to number three, not only has he saved us from the coming wrath, but he has sanctified us to a holy calling. And we're to be unashamed of the gospel because we've been sanctified to a holy calling to God. He set us apart to be a royal priesthood. An essential aspect of this royal priesthood is that those who are a part of it have a privilege of proclaiming it. Of making it known. Of making known the Gospel of God. Consider how Peter speaks to believers. In 1 Peter 2.9, he says, but you are a chosen race. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people for His own possession. How glorious! What an incredible privilege. And what an incredible motivation. That's what God has called us to, but it doesn't stop there. Why did He call us into this priesthood? He goes on to say, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into this marvelous light. God calls us into His royal priesthood to then go and proclaim His excellencies to the world. You know, when the Israelites came into the Old Covenant, the Lord did not give to the Levites their own portions of land as He gave to the other tribes. And it might seem that that's unfair or whatever you might reason, but here's why He didn't give them their land, He says, because the Lord is the Levites' portion. The Levites get to concern themselves with the things of God and His tabernacle. While Timothy may be the scum of the earth, he needs to remember that through the gospel, he's been made a priest to his God and a proclaimer for his God. And that is much better than riches and wealth and comfort and all the things that the world offers. Remember the psalmist in Psalm 84.10. He says, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Christians are the most blessed among men. That we might not receive the same riches. We might not receive the same accolades. That we may suffer. We may be mocked. We may be laughed at. We may be viewed as the scum of the earth. But we've been made priests to our God. To serve Him, to worship Him, to know Him, and to proclaim His excellencies to the world. What a privilege. And because you have this calling, you and I are to be unashamed of the gospel. And this just keeps getting better and better. We are to be unashamed, number four of the Gospel, because God has elected us to salvation and called us to this holy calling before the ages began. I love the doctrines of grace. He goes on to say in verse 9, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, or before times eternal, before anything was created. He elected us unto salvation and unto ministry and gave us a holy calling. You know, this verse teaches with absolute clarity the doctrine of election. And the only way not to see it is to not want to see it from a verse like this. That God, before He created the universe, He chose to bestow His grace upon a people that He Himself predestined, not according to works. So it's not that God looked down the tunnel of history and saw that you would choose Him and believe in Him, and so He retrospectively in the Bible calls you the elect. That's not how the Bible teaches this. He chose you before the foundation of the world to call you to salvation. To give you a holy calling. To make you a royal priesthood. And it's not according to your works. It's according to His own grace, His own purpose, His own will. That should humble us mightily. To think about being chosen. Sinful, wicked people who have no share in the things of God. Being chosen and made new by His sovereign grace. Should humble us to our faces before the Lord. And it should make us the most thankful people on the planet. We've done nothing to earn it. Nothing to deserve it. It's all His mercy. All His grace. You can imagine how this would encourage Timothy to be unashamed of Christ. His salvation. His ministry existed in the mind of God before time. It's much bigger than his few years on the earth. Timothy has contributed nothing to his salvation or his calling. He is totally a recipient of God's grace. And he has been made a gift of Christ to the church by God. By Christ. It's not about Timothy, it's about Christ. And He is to go and to be unashamed of the Gospel message that brought that grace to light in history, which is the next point. We are to be unashamed of the Gospel because this redemption has been manifested in history, in space and time. So think about this. Before the ages began, a people upon whom God would lavish with unmerited grace, whom the Bible calls the elect, existed in the mind of the triune God. before all the ages. And before the ages began, God the Father and God the Son made a covenant together to redeem this elect people. And this redemption was manifested in history, in space, and time, as a real Jewish man was the Son of God. And the Son of God, the Eternal Son, the Incarnate Word became human flesh in the person of Christ. And walked among people. Born of a virgin. Born under the Mosaic Law. Who lived perfectly blameless under the Mosaic Law. And yet was crucified under real Jewish and Roman authorities. and buried by a real man named Joseph of Arimathea in a real tomb. And real women went to his tomb and did not find him. And Jesus really appeared in resurrected form to those women. And to all His apostles. And then Paul says, to more than 500 brothers at one time. And the apostles lived with Him for 40 days as He taught them about the Kingdom of God. And they really watched Him ascend into heaven. This happened in history. And then 10 days later, they were all together. And the Spirit came upon them. And they began to speak in other tongues. And they were emboldened for ministry. And they received power from on high. And the church was filled with the Spirit. And now all who believe in Him received the Spirit. And so that through the Spirit, all of His accomplishments become our accomplishments. All of His blessings become our blessings. We're seated in the heavenly places with Christ. And we are called to proclaim this Gospel and suffer for it and be unashamed of it. Listen, Timothy is not called to be unashamed of a fable. He's not called to be unashamed of wishful thinking. He is called to be unashamed for the Gospel that manifested itself in history in the person of Jesus Christ. And we have eyewitnesses who watched Him, and touched Him, and lived with Him, and saw His miracles, and saw His resurrection, and died for Him, who have left a sure testimony, so that every word is true, and it is inerrant. We live in a day in which the historical validity of the Bible is undermined, and mocked, and not taken remotely seriously in the public square or at the university, and yet, we are called to be unashamed of it, and stand steadfast, believing that this Bible reveals to us the truth about Christ. Every word is inerrant. Every word was spoken by the mouth of God. Stand fast, brothers and sisters. Be unashamed. Continuing to press into v. 10, v. 6, we are to be unashamed of the gospel because Jesus has abolished death. Through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death. Perhaps Timothy's greatest fear is that he would lose his life for the gospel. It's certainly a very real prospect because Paul is in prison about to lose his life for the gospel. I mean, think about this for a moment. Consider living your Christianity with a very real prospect of death looming over you. That's how life has been for many Christians throughout history, and that's how life is for many Christians in many parts of the world today. He says in chapter 4, verse 6, I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come, meaning I am about to die as a martyr for the Lord. And it's going to be a sacrifice for the Lord at the hands of the Roman state. And yet, he tells Timothy that Christ has abolished death. I'm about to die. Christ has abolished death. What is He getting at? Well, of course, He's speaking of eternal death. And while physical death will still be experienced before the final resurrection, Christ has taken death's victory. He stripped it of its power. Christian, what is the worst that can happen to you? What is the worst that can happen to you? If you say death, look at what he says. Our Savior Jesus Christ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. In the Gospel, Jesus destroyed every obstacle between you and God the Father. He says in Romans 8, 38-39, For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if Christ has defeated our greatest enemy in death, The enemy that we could never overcome on our own. Death and separation from God. We have no need to be ashamed of mere mortals. That's the most they can do. Is kill the body. Harm the body. Mock us in the body. Yet Christ has abolished death. And simultaneously, number seven, He has brought us eternal life. Not only has He abolished death, but Paul goes on to say that He has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. And so no matter what difficulty may ensue on behalf of the Gospel, eternal life is on the other side. Immortality awaits, even if imprisonment, and even if death are to be the result of standing fast in the Gospel. Timothy knows that he can endure under the power of God, knowing that eternal life with his Lord is just on the other side. And Jesus has purchased it for him. Remember what the Lord said just before raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11.25. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. Though he die. Yet shall he live through belief. And Paul understands this. I mean, listen to the way that he ties together being unashamed of the Gospel with the possibility of dying for the Gospel in Philippians 1.20-21. He says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed. Remember, he's in prison there. but will have complete boldness, so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." And so he's saying, I know I will suffer over the gospel. I possibly will die for the gospel. However, I know that Christ will be exalted in my body no matter what. Whether I live or whether I die. And I know that death over the Gospel will actually bring me into the presence of Christ. Where I actually want to be. Therefore, I won't be ashamed. And as long as I'm here in this shell, I won't be ashamed of Him. I will be bold. Because to live is Christ and to die is gain. Number eight, we are to be unashamed of the Gospel because God appoints us to be His ambassadors. Look at verse 11. For which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. It amazes me, this about Paul, that he is more concerned with fulfilling his ministry and carrying out his duty as an apostle and preacher of Christ than he is about maintaining his own comfort, fulfilling his own desires, obtaining his own righteousness, and even maintaining his own life. Why? Because he recognizes that just as his salvation is not from him, but from God and for God, his apostleship is not from him. It's from God and it's for God. He says in Acts 20.24, but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course in the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel to the Gospel of the grace of God." That's Paul's ambition as a Christian. To finish the race as a believer, to die in belief, and to fulfill the ministry God gave him. To proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles. Not to cower. To press on in faithfulness. And if it requires suffering, imprisonment, and death, then so be it. My life is not of any value to begin with. It's God's life. It's God's ministry. It's God's glory. It's not mine. Every Christian in this room, to some degree, must suffer at some level, there's varying levels, for the Gospel. He'll go on to say in chapter 3, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But the evil people and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. So whether you move to another country as a missionary, whether it's on behalf of your evangelism, whether it's from our current culture, whether it's in your workplace, whether it's from your own family, possibly from your own spouse, Christ has called us to suffer for the sake of the gospel. And when we do suffer for the sake of the Gospel, He has called us to do it unashamedly. And in fact, to rejoice. To rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for Him. Notice the emphasis on the grounds that produce the suffering in verse 8. Again, he says, I'm in prison because of the testimony of our Lord for the sake of the gospel. And again, in verse 11, it's because of Paul's witness to the gospel as an apostle and a preacher. So guys, a Christian may suffer simply for being a Christian. That's possible. That's happening in our world and it's happened throughout history. Just by being a Christian, just by identifying with Christ, people suffer persecution. But most of us today in America, if we are to suffer for the Gospel, it's not by simply identifying with Christ. It's for speaking for Him. It's for speaking about His teachings. That's what will bring suffering over the Gospel. It's a result of the words that Paul speaks about Christ that put him in prison. If he shut his mouth and just went off and lived quietly, believing in Jesus, he would not have ended up in prison. It was over the words that he spoke. The claims that he made. In a Roman world that says Caesar is Lord, Paul is saying no, Jesus is Lord. And he's saying man has fallen. Man is sinful. And there's one way to be brought back to God and it's through this man Jesus Christ. Repent and believe. And it is that message that brings him to prison. We are to be truth speakers and witnesses for the Gospel. And if we suffer for the Gospel, it may be because we are simply identifying as Christians, but probably not. It will probably be because of the words that we speak about Christ. And because of the witness we give. This is not a suffer as a Republican at the hands of liberals. This is suffer for the gospel. Suffer for the testimony of Christ. The true gospel is offensive to everyone who does not believe it. The testimony of the Lord Jesus brings opposition from all sides. Why? Because it makes claims and demands on everyone. No one is exempt. No one is righteous. All have fallen short of the glory of God. All are dead in their sins. All people have willfully rejected God and His Messiah and turned their own way, worshipped themselves, worshipped their own gods, and yet God has in His love given one mediator. for God, between God and man. And it's His own Son, Jesus Christ. And it is through that Man, Jesus Christ, that you can be saved. And He commands all people everywhere to repent and believe. And place their faith in King Jesus. And submit to their Lordship. And bring everything, every thought, every teaching, every belief system into alignment with His. and to let Him lead our lives as we worship Him and love Him and live for Him. And the Bible teaches clearly that all who refuse to bow down to the Son will face judgment in a real place called hell. That's offensive to everyone except those who are being saved by it. And for those who are being saved by that message, God says do not be ashamed of it. Everyone's offended by that. Except for those who are being saved by it. And for you who are being saved by it, go proclaim it and don't be ashamed of it. 2 Corinthians 2, 15-16, For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life. And I'll close with number nine. We are to be ashamed of the Gospel, because God will guard what He has entrusted to us. Look at verse 12. Think about Paul in prison, facing death, and he says this, but I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me." It's a difficult verse to translate. Paul could be meaning that he has entrusted his deposit to God, namely his life, his salvation, his ministry, and he knows that God will be faithful to guard that deposit that Paul has given to him. Or, Paul could be saying that God will guard the deposit that God gave to Paul. And so Paul's ministry that was from God to Paul, God will guard that ministry. He will be faithful to preserve Paul and preserve his ministry and guard it. Either way, the point remains the same. God is faithful to complete the work that He started. Our lives, our salvation, our ministry. We are God's work. We are called in Christ Jesus for good works. We are God's workmanship. We are God's. We are Christ's. And He will guard His work and ensure the success of it. He will guard it through difficulty. He will guard it through suffering. He will guard it through sickness. He will guard it through crazy cultural chaos. He will guard it through good leaders and bad leaders. Wicked rulers and righteous rulers. He will guard it. And guard it until when? Until that day. until that day. Paul refers to this day many times in the New Testament, and I believe it's clear that it refers to the second coming of Christ. The final day when Jesus will return visibly and bodily to the earth and judge every person who has ever lived according to their works. And those who have received His salvation by faith will be given everlasting, eternal reward for the works that they carried out in Him and those who have rejected Him will be sentenced to everlasting damnation where they will be judged for all eternity for their sins. Philippians 1.6, Paul says, and I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion when? At the day of Christ Jesus. And he'll say later in chapter 4, henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me when on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing in the Lord Himself. Says in John 6.39, And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. What an incredible promise. What an incredible motivation. What incredible reasons not to be ashamed of the Gospel. Nothing will be lost. Nothing will be lost. None of your faith will be lost. None of your belief will be lost. None of the works that you carried out in God will be lost. None of the difficulty will be lost. Nothing carried out for Christ will go unrewarded on the last day. Your salvation, which was in the mind of God before the ages began, which came to light in history in the Gospel of Christ, and which became a reality for you when you repented of sin and turned to Him in faith. And the ministry that He has called you to, to build up His church and to serve Him, none of it will be lost. He will guard it all. He will guard every last bit of it. And through suffering, through persecution, through even death, if necessary, He will guard the good deposit until the final day. when the scrolls will be opened and all the hidden, secret thoughts of the hearts of men will be exposed and laid bare before the Son, He will give the righteous reward to those who have remained unashamed of Him. Amen? Brothers and sisters, until that day, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. And as we transition to the table, brothers and sisters, such good news. that Jesus Himself came and laid His life down for sinners and died in our place. It is not our faithfulness that gets us to heaven. It is His faithfulness. We are saved by faith alone. By faith alone. His righteousness alone. And if you have received that righteousness, by believing in Him and have repented of sin, and you have been baptized, we would encourage you and invite you to come to the table to enjoy the Lord's Supper with us. And if you have not, I would ask you to ponder the things that you have heard this morning. Ponder. Your standing with Christ. Ponder your eternal destiny. Your eternal state with God. Ponder your life. Ponder whether you are prepared to die. And if you want to talk about Christ or the gospel, please, come and talk to me before you leave today. Talk to Pastor John Mark before you leave today. Salvation has come near in Christ. And all can receive it by faith. Brothers and sisters, take a few moments to yourselves, think about these things, pray to the Lord, and come and receive the elements with a fullness of joy, knowing that Christ has accomplished all that needed to be accomplished. Let's pray. O gracious Father in heaven, what a word, what a text of Scripture. And we confess that we all fall short of it, Lord. And we know that none of us could be faithful enough to be considered faithful by You. But we receive the faithfulness of Your Son as our only hope. And we ask You, Lord, to build us up in truth and send us out of this place unashamed. for the Gospel. Crucify in us, Lord. Shame. Cowardice. Fear. And make us a bold people for Christ. We love You and we give You glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.