[0:00] Well, if we could, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read for a short while, if we could look at verses 8 to 13.
[0:14] So 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 8 to 13. Where Paul writes, But particularly the words at the beginning of verse 8, where Paul says,
[1:16] Remember Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus Christ. You know, as we approach another communion season, I think those words, they just encapsulate and they emphasize what a communion season is all about.
[1:36] Remember Jesus Christ. And you know, there's no better command or commendation to receive prior to a communion than the words here.
[1:47] Remember Jesus Christ. And these words, they ought to be precious to us because, as you know, the Lord's Supper, it is a privilege, a privilege that was for a time restricted and removed from us due to the pandemic.
[2:02] But now that everything has eased and we're back to a level of normality, we should be so thankful for the privilege, the privilege of participating in and the privilege of partaking of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
[2:19] And as we were saying on the Lord's Day in our study, our study on Sunday evenings, Love Your Church, we were talking about participating in our family meeting and being part of our family membership and partaking of our family meal.
[2:34] And we were talking about the family meal because that's what the Lord's Supper is. The Lord's Supper is a family meal where we experience and we enjoy that koinonia, that fellowship, that communion, that sharing.
[2:49] It's fellowship with Christ and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. It's communion with the Savior and communion with the saints. It's sharing in the bread and the wine to strengthen and sustain us in our wilderness journey.
[3:07] The Lord's Supper, it's a family meal. And that's the way we should always look at it. It's a family meal where we remember what our elder brother did on our behalf.
[3:18] So we are to remember Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus Christ. That's what Paul is saying to us this evening. And there are two things that Paul draws our attention to in these verses. He draws our attention to the command and the commendation.
[3:34] The command and the commendation. So there are two headings this evening. The command and the commendation. So first of all, the command. He says there in verse 8, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains, a criminal.
[3:53] But the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
[4:05] Now when Paul wrote to Timothy, exhorting him and encouraging him here to remember Jesus Christ, it's not that Timothy was in danger of forgetting or falling away from Jesus Christ.
[4:20] Rather, Paul is reminding Timothy that Jesus Christ is the sum and substance of our gospel. Because the gospel is not just a proclamation.
[4:32] The gospel, as you know, is a person. The gospel is Jesus Christ. And as Paul reminded and reaffirmed to Timothy throughout this letter so far, he has said to Timothy, he's told him, Timothy, fan into flame your God-given gift as a pastor and preacher of the gospel.
[4:50] Don't be ashamed of this ministry and the message of the gospel. Guard the gospel. Glory in the gospel. Be strengthened by the grace that is in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[5:02] And with the devotion of a soldier, as we saw last week, with the devotion of a soldier and the discipline of an athlete and the diligence of a farmer, pass on this gospel baton to the next generation.
[5:15] Because this gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is Jesus Christ. So Timothy, remember Jesus Christ.
[5:27] Remember Jesus Christ. But you know, whenever scripture uses the word remember, it does so not in the sense of calling something to mind from memory or calling something to mind from the past.
[5:45] Rather, the word remember is used to exhort and to encourage us to attentively and actively respond to the Lord's command.
[5:59] The word remember is used to exhort us and encourage us to attentively and actively respond to the Lord's command. For example, the fourth commandment.
[6:12] Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It's encouraging us and exhorting us to actively and attentively respond to the Lord's command.
[6:23] Another example, the Lord's words. Remember my covenant. Remember Lot's wife. Remember the word that I spoke to you.
[6:34] The word remember, it is there to encourage us and exhort us to attentively and actively respond to the Lord's command. And here is Paul in his last letter and he's exhorting and he's encouraging Timothy to attentively and actively remember Jesus Christ.
[6:55] Remember Jesus Christ. And of course, Paul here, that word remember, he's using the imperative. He's using a command. He's issuing a command to Timothy as the pastor and preacher in the congregation of Ephesus.
[7:12] He's saying to him, remember Jesus Christ. But more than that, this imperative verb, when you look at it, the way it's written is that Paul is saying to the congregation, he's saying to Timothy and the congregation, he's saying keep on remembering Jesus Christ.
[7:32] Don't do it, just do it once. Keep on remembering Jesus Christ. Keep on remembering Jesus Christ. It was to be a constant and a continual exercise for the congregation in Ephesus to remember Jesus Christ.
[7:50] And how were they to do that? They were to remember Jesus Christ by participating in and by partaking of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
[8:01] You know, Paul is emphasizing and explaining to Timothy. He's saying to him how important and how integral it is to the church of Jesus Christ, to the people of God.
[8:12] He's saying to him, it's so important, it's so integral that we come and we sit at the Lord's table and participate in and partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
[8:24] Because as you know, and as we've said many times before, the Lord's Supper is a means of grace. There are five things we often refer to as the means of grace, or five things my good friend J.C. Ryle refers to as the means of grace.
[8:39] Bible reading, prayer, public worship, the Lord's Day, and the Lord's Supper. They are the five means of grace.
[8:49] Bible reading, prayer, public worship, the Lord's Day, and the Lord's Supper. They are the means by which God communicates grace to our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit.
[9:01] They are the means of grace. And as we said, the last one, the Lord's Supper, is a means of grace by which our faith is focused, and our assurance is affirmed, and our salvation is strengthened.
[9:16] It's a means by which we grow in grace, and we grow in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You know, I fully and firmly believe that Christians who hold back from coming to the Lord's table, for whatever reason, Christians who hold back from coming to the Lord's table, they hinder and hamper their growth in grace.
[9:45] They hinder and hamper their growth in grace. As we said on the Lord's Day, the Lord's Supper, it's not for good people. It's not for perfect people.
[9:57] It's for broken people, living broken lives in a broken world. And that's something I need to hear too and be reminded of. It's for doubters, deniers, and deserters.
[10:10] It's for those who faint and who fail and who are faithless. It's for those who let the Lord down, and yet those who love the Lord. It's for those who sin and come short, and yet they love their Savior.
[10:23] My friend, the Lord's Supper, it's for the Lord's people. It's for those who love the Lord. And it's a means of grace. And so Paul is saying here, Timothy, remember Jesus Christ.
[10:38] Remember Jesus Christ. You know, in his commentary, John Stott, he wrote a famous commentary on 2 Timothy. And he says about Paul's statement here in verse 8, he says, The human memory is notoriously fickle, so fickle that we easily forget Jesus Christ.
[10:58] But to overcome our forgetfulness of Christ crucified, says Stott, Jesus deliberately instituted the Lord's Supper as a feast of remembrance.
[11:13] And so, my friend, the Lord's Supper is a memorial meal. It's a remembrance meal whereby, as you know, we have physical elements that we touch and we taste.
[11:23] And through them, we are reminded and we remember the Lord's death until he comes again. Because as we often read in the Gospels, we read that when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and he gave it to his disciples, saying, And then we're told that he takes a cup, the cup of salvation, the cup of the Messiah.
[11:56] He takes it, the cup, and he says, This cup is poured out for you. It is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.
[12:07] So, Paul is saying here, Timothy, remember Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus Christ by participating in and by partaking of the Lord's Supper.
[12:23] You know, it was my good friend J.C. Ryle. I love reading J.C. Ryle. He said, The bread that we eat at the Lord's table is intended to remind us of Christ's body, given to death on the cross for our sins.
[12:37] The wine that we drink is intended to remind us of Christ's blood, shed to make atonement for our transgressions. The whole ordinance, says Ryle, is meant to keep afresh in our memory the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the satisfaction which that sacrifice made for the sin of his people.
[13:01] These two elements of bread and wine are intended to preach Christ crucified as our sacrifice and substitute. They are a visible sermon appealing to our senses and teaching the old-fashioned truth of the gospel, that Christ's death on the cross is the life of man's soul.
[13:28] Christ's death on the cross is the life of man's soul. Timothy, remember Jesus Christ. But, you know, as we read in verse 8, it wasn't just the death of Jesus Christ that Timothy and the church in Ephesus were to keep on remembering.
[13:46] No, the remembrance of Jesus Christ was to be all-encompassing because they were to remember the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, that he humbled himself from the crown of glory down to the cradle in Bethlehem.
[14:00] They were also to remember the sinless life of Jesus Christ, that he knew no sin, and yet he became sin for us. They were to remember the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, that as our Passover lamb, he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
[14:18] They were to remember the stone which rolled away, that he is not here, but he is risen. They were to remember the supplication of Jesus Christ, that he ever lives tonight to make intercession for his people.
[14:32] They were to remember the seed of Jesus Christ, that as the descendant, as we're told, of King David, the offspring of King David, he's the King of kings, and he's the Lord of lords.
[14:44] My friend, they were to remember an all-encompassing Christ. They were to remember Jesus Christ because he is the gospel. The gospel is not just a proclamation.
[14:56] No, it's a person. The gospel is Jesus Christ. So, Timothy, Timothy, remember Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.
[15:16] Remember Jesus Christ. You know, Paul is exhorting and encouraging the church to attentively and actively keep on remembering Jesus Christ by participating in and by partaking of the Lord's Supper.
[15:34] And so, that's the command. The command is remember Jesus Christ. But then, secondly, the commendation. So, the command and the commendation.
[15:45] Now, look at verse 11. Paul says, Now, this isn't the first time that Paul has issued a faithful or a trustworthy saying.
[16:13] The first time was actually in 1 Timothy chapter 1. When Paul said, chapter 1, he said, This is a faithful saying, unworthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
[16:34] And Paul's first faithful saying, it's, if you've seen it, it's written on the wall outside our church. It's written on our wayside pulpit, outside that door. It's written there for all the tourists, and the cyclists, and the passers-by to read.
[16:50] And it's worth reading. And it's worth leaving on the wall of our church. Because as Paul said, it's a trustworthy saying. It's a faithful saying. It deserves full acceptance from everybody who passes by that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
[17:09] But there are also other faithful sayings that Paul wrote. They're all written in his pastorly epistles. You can find them for yourself. 1 Timothy chapter 1 is the first one.
[17:20] 2 Timothy chapter 2 here is the last one. And this faithful saying, this final faithful saying, it really is a final faithful saying.
[17:30] Because it seems that as Paul nears the end of his life, he's coming to the end of his ministry. And as you read this, you realize that his union and his communion with Christ is becoming more and more precious to him.
[17:48] It's becoming more and more personal to him. Because Paul writes, he says, this is a faithful saying. This saying is trustworthy. For if we died with him, we shall also live with him.
[18:04] And that phrase, with him, Paul often uses it. If we died with him, we shall also live with him. Paul is drawing our attention to our union with Christ.
[18:17] Our union with Christ. That by faith, we are united to Jesus Christ. We are in union with Christ. That's how the Bible describes our relationship to Jesus Christ.
[18:29] We are united to him. And you know, Paul was someone who loved the concept of union with Christ. He wrote about it in almost every one of his letters.
[18:41] And he explains and he emphasizes time and time again how precious and how personal our salvation is because of our union. Our union with Christ.
[18:52] Paul repeatedly says that we are in Christ and we are with Christ. So we're in Christ and we are with Christ. We are united to Jesus Christ.
[19:04] And it's through this precious and this personal union with Christ that the Bible explains to us, or Paul explains to us in his letters, that we receive every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
[19:19] As one theologian said, and I'm sure I've said this before, union with Christ is like the fountainhead. It is the fountainhead from which every spiritual blessing flows to the Christian.
[19:33] So what is flowing to us through our union with Christ is repentance and faith, pardon and justification and adoption and sanctification and perseverance and glorification.
[19:46] All these blessings, they flow to us and they fill us through our precious and personal union with Christ. So tonight, through our union with Christ, we have received every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
[20:05] And you know, one of my favorite verses in the Bible which emphasizes our union with Christ, it's that confession of the Christian in Galatians 2 verse 20, a familiar verse.
[20:21] Galatians 2 verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.
[20:32] And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. It's the confession of the Christian where we can say, I am crucified with Christ.
[20:49] I am connected to Christ. I am confident in Christ. And what's beautiful is that our confession of faith as a Christian, our confession of faith, it's all based upon, it's all bound up in our precious and personal union with Christ.
[21:11] Because when we're united to Jesus Christ, when we're in union with Christ, when we're in Christ, as Paul says, he says in Romans 8, verse 1, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
[21:24] He says at the end of the chapter of Romans 8, there's no separation to those who are in Christ Jesus. But more than that, Paul's explanation throughout the New Testament of our union with Christ is that in Christ we are given a new identity.
[21:41] In Christ, we are given a new identity. Where Paul says, therefore, if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away.
[21:53] All has become new. We have a new identity in Christ. But you know, let's make this personal. Let's make this personal, right?
[22:04] Because it is personal. It's precious and personal, our union with Christ. Because as Paul teaches us throughout the New Testament, he says, your new identity in Christ, your new identity as a new creation in Christ is that when Christ went to the cross, you went to the cross with him.
[22:28] When Christ was crucified on the cross, you were, as Paul says in Galatians 2, verse 20, you were crucified with him, in union with him. When the sin and shame of God's people was nailed to the cross, your sin and your shame was nailed to the cross with him.
[22:48] More than that, when Christ died, Paul says in Romans 6, you died with him. When Christ was buried, you were buried with him. And because Christ was raised from the dead, you were raised with the newness of life with him.
[23:03] You've received eternal life and abundant life because you are with Christ, in union with Christ. And tonight, your identity, and I know we find it hard to believe, but our identity is that we are in Christ.
[23:20] we're in Christ. You are a Christian. You're a Christian. And that's why Paul says to us, this is a faithful saying.
[23:33] He's saying this here in verse 11. It's trustworthy. In other words, you could probably put Jesus' words on it and say, verily, verily, most assuredly, truly, truly, if we have died with him, we shall also live with him.
[23:54] And we live with him because he lives in us by his spirit. My friend, our identity is that we've not only been redeemed and rescued by the precious blood of Christ, but we also have this precious and personal union with Christ.
[24:12] We have a precious and personal union with Christ where we can say, the saying is trustworthy. If we have died with him, we will also live with him.
[24:25] If we endure, we will also reign with him in glory. If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we're faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself.
[24:40] Now, you'll notice from this saying the second half of the saying, that Paul's words, they also come with a warning. A warning that echoes Jesus' warning in Matthew chapter 10, where Jesus said to his disciples, he said, whosoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.
[25:01] Now, as we said earlier, the Lord's Supper, as we saw on the Lord's Day with Peter, the one who denied Jesus, we said that the Lord's Supper is for deniers, it's for doubters, it's for deserters, it's for those who faint and fail and are faithless, it's for those who let the Lord down, it's for those who sin and come short in so many ways, it's for those who feel so unwanted and unworthy to come to the Lord's table.
[25:28] And my friend, that's why Paul commands us to remember Jesus Christ, and that's why he commends the Lord's Supper to us as a means of grace. Because Paul is saying here, don't deny him.
[25:44] Don't deny him if you know him. Don't be faithless because he is faithful. That's what he's saying, don't deny him if you know him.
[25:59] Don't be faithless because he is faithful. No, come. Come to the Lord's table. Come to the Lord's Supper. Come and participate in and partake of the sacrament by faith because it's through our union with Christ that we experience and enjoy communion with Christ.
[26:22] And this is what I love. Union and communion go hand in hand. Union and communion go hand in hand. Our precious and personal union with Christ is expressed by our precious and public communion with Christ.
[26:44] Our precious and personal union with Christ is expressed at the Lord's table. It's expressed by our precious but public communion with Christ.
[26:56] That's why we refer to the Lord's Supper and sitting at the Lord's table, we call it communion because through our union with Christ we experience and enjoy communion with the Saviour and communion with the saints.
[27:10] Which brings us all back to this beautiful Greek word that I love and I can't get away from, koinonia. Koinonia. That's what we have when we sit together at the Lord's table.
[27:24] we have koinonia, communion, fellowship, sharing. Communion with the Saviour, communion with the saints, fellowship with Christ, fellowship with other Christians, sharing, sharing in bread and wine, simple elements.
[27:42] But elements that remind us and reassure us, that strengthen us and sustain us in our wilderness journey. It's koinonia, koinonia.
[27:55] And you know, is that not what we long for and look forward to this communion season? Koinonia. So my Christian friend, let's participate in our family meeting this coming weekend.
[28:08] Let's be part of our family membership and let's partake in our family meal. Because as Paul commends the Lord's Supper to us in these verses, he commands us, very simply, remember Jesus Christ.
[28:24] Remember Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, we give thanks to Thee for these commands in Scripture, commands that call us to remember our Savior, a Savior who loved us and gave Himself for us.
[28:50] and Lord, we pray that throughout remembering, that we would be reminded and reassured that He is a Savior who is with us, a Savior who is in us, a Savior who promises never to leave and never to forsake us.
[29:06] Lord, encourage us, we pray, enable us, we ask to, to come together around Thy table and to remember the Lord's death in all that He is and all that He has done and all that He continues to do for His people, even seated at Thy right hand this evening, making intercession for us.
[29:26] Lord, go before us, we pray. Do us good, we ask, for we ask it in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Now, we're going to sing again, this time in Psalm 22.
[29:42] Psalm 22 in the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 22, page 228.
[30:02] We're going to sing verses 27 down to the end of the psalm. I don't have any prayer points for you tonight. pray for our preacher coming this weekend.
[30:14] That's the prayer point. Remember the Matheson family? Please remember them. I don't think I need to remind you. Please remember them. Not only the Matheson family as well, the royal family too, and all families that are mourning.
[30:29] You know, there's so much sadness. I know it's there all the time, but it just seems that there's one thing after another. And the Bartlett family as well in Beru, remember them too.
[30:39] Remember all those who are mourning. There's so much sadness at this time. We're singing Psalm 22, verses 27, down to the end of the psalm.
[30:53] Psalm 22, as you know, it's the psalm of the cross. It's the oldest, you could say, foreshadowing of the crucifixion. Isaiah's words in Isaiah 53 are 700 years before Jesus.
[31:09] Psalm 22 is written by David a thousand years before Jesus was crucified. And yet, in this psalm we have what Jesus said on the cross, verse 1, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[31:22] There's the description of Jesus being pierced in his hands and his feet. And there's also this wonderful verses at the end. And even when it says there in verse 31, he has done this.
[31:36] The end of verse 31, Psalm 22. When you look at it in the original language, it's actually, it is finished, which is what Jesus said on the cross. It is finished.
[31:46] So it begins with a saying from the cross, and it ends with a saying from the cross. It is the psalm of the cross. And it calls us to remember.
[31:59] Verse 27, all ends of the earth remember shall and turn the Lord unto all kindreds of the nations. To him shall homage do. Because the kingdom to the Lord doth appertain as his, likewise among the nations the governor he is.
[32:18] We'll sing down to the end of the psalm of Psalm 22 to God's praise. psalm of all hands of the earth remember shall unturn the Lord unto all good rest of the nation nations to his shall all which do.
[33:01] He cost the kingdom to the Lord the power take us his like wise among the nations the governor he is.
[33:37] Earth but one's need and worship shall come all who to dust be said shall love to him none often can his soul from death depend.
[34:11] a sea shall serve us to him unto the Lord it shall before a generation re re on in ages walls they shall come and they shall be where his truth and righteousness unto a people yet unborn unto a people yet unborn and that he hath done this and that he hath done this