15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Introduction
Many years ago Billy Graham paid a visit to #10 Downing Street in London, England to visit with Winston Churchill. After they had visited a while Mr. Churchill said to Billy Graham, “Young man, do you have any hope for this world?” And Graham picked up his Bible and said to him, “Sir, this is a book of hope.” Churchill then said to Graham, “Well, would you quickly read to me from it.” And so for the next 30 minutes Billy Graham read selected passages from the word of God that seemed to fit the mood of the time and the mood of Mr. Churchill. When he was through, Churchill said to him, “Thank you, young man, for you have given an old man renewed faith for the future.”
If there is anything our world needs today it is a renewed faith in the future. It is hope in the difficult and distressing time in which we live. Anytime you are in a period of great transition, when things that you once thought were sacred and unshakeable are passing away, it is a time to reexamine your life and your faith to find that which is eternal, that which is unshakeable. In a time when we are facing dramatic economic and moral and national changes, we are bound to ask, “What is there that we can anchor our life and our future to? What is there in our world that is unchanging, settled, sure, and reliable that we can believe in?”
The apostle Paul gives us an answer to those questions in the book of 2 Timothy 2, and in particular verse 19 when he says, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure.” I want you to latch on to that statement for great truth is embodied in it. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure.” When Paul wrote those words there were a great many things happening in his life that would justify despondency. He was in prison. He was growing old. He was alone and he had been deserted by many of his followers. And he could see that persecution was beginning to come to the people of God. That ought to have been enough to discourage him. But he said to young Timothy, “In spite of that I want you to remember that the foundation of God stands sure.”
Heresy was beginning to arise in the young church. He mentions in the verses previous to this statement, two men, one named Hymenaeus and one named Philetus, who were perverting the truth of God. They were saying that the resurrection, which is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, had already come and gone. Persecution had come; heresies were arising in the faith. But Paul said to Timothy, “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.”
Some of Paul’s followers were deserting him. Two chapters later, he says, “Demas has forsaken us, having of this present world more.” He said that when he stood before Nero, all men forsook him. Nobody stood with him except Christ. In spite of the desertions of those who had been with him through many years, Paul said, “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.”
His own death seemed to be imminent. He says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). But even then with his own death in sight, Paul said to young Timothy, “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.” With all of these reasons for gloom and for doom, there is no hint of pessimism in what Paul has to say. There is none of that lack of spirit that so often characterizes the lives of older people. Nor is there a note of despondency that so often characterizes the life of a leader who sees the end in sight and realizes how much he wanted to do that is not yet done. There is only this unconquerable confidence in the future. Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.
I want you to latch on to that word “nevertheless” for the whole truth of God swings on that one simple word. Paul has described for us some very difficult circumstances surrounding his own life and the New Testament church. But then he comes to say, “Nevertheless, in spite of all that is happening around me, in spite of the difficulties and the darkness, nevertheless there is something sure and settled that you can rest your life on.”
He is saying to Timothy, “Persecutions may come, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Heresies may arise, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Workers may desert, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. I may die, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.”
The commitment of some may wane, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Governments may crumble, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. The Supreme Court may rule that prayer in public schools is not legal, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Madalyn Murray O’Hair may file suit to outlaw any semblance of religion from public life, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Theologians may declare that God is dead, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.
Paul is saying, “Timothy, in the midst of the change and the turmoil and the uncertainty of this world remember this: no matter what happens, there is something settled, stable, secure, and eternal that’s the foundation of God. Build your life on that and when you do, you are building on the solid rock.” Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.
What is that solid foundation? Jesus talked about it in the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. He said, “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24-25).
The writer of the book of Hebrews talks about that foundation. He said, “He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). He had in mind the life of a nomadic people. They lived in tents. Their houses were held down by stakes and by strings and they could easily be picked up and moved off to some other place. But he said we keep dreaming of that permanent settled life that God has for his people. We look for a city that has foundations, whose maker and builder is God.
In the Revelation John describes the beautiful city of heaven as having 12 foundations upon whose stones are written the names of the 12 apostles. What is the foundation that Jesus talked about and that the writer of Hebrews talked about and John talked about? Paul tells us very clearly in 1 Corinthians, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Paul is saying to young Timothy, the one sure settled foundation in time and in eternity is Jesus Christ and the eternal word of God. Build your life, your hope, and your future on him and his word and you will be resting on the one settled sure foundation there is in life.
Everything else may change. Moral principles may come and go, be accepted and be rejected, but that foundation will stand. The economic order may rise and fall but be assured that there is one thing that is unmovable—that’s the foundation of faith and trust in the eternal God, and in his Son Jesus Christ and his word.
Nations may rise and fall, but regardless of what happens to nations the foundation of God stands sure. He gives us a certain word in an uncertain age. With that in mind, that great truth, “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.”
I want to make three points that amplify and that illustrate and fortify that one basic truth. I want to suggest to you that persecution may come as it did then. “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.” Second, I want to suggest that error may arise. “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.” Third, I want to suggest that leaders may die but “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.” There is nothing that can happen to us that can ever shake the solid foundation.
1. You must be willing to face persecution. Think first of all about the truth that persecution may come. “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.” When Paul wrote these words he was in a Roman prison, chained to a Roman guard. And he knew that death was soon coming. Already he had appeared before Nero to make a defense for himself and for the Christian faith.
In that day the apostle Paul was nothing more than an itinerant preacher. He had no credentials. He had no power. He had no influence. He had no large following so far as the world’s standards were concerned. Paul essentially was a nobody. And he stood one day before Nero, who was the emperor of the Roman Empire, these single most important and influential man in the whole world. If you would have asked most people in that day what chance does the apostle Paul have against Nero, the emperor of the Roman Empire, they would have said, “He has no chance whatsoever.” But today, almost 2,000 years later, we name our dogs Nero and our sons Paul. The foundation of God stands sure.
In the years before the Reformation they burned John Huss at the stake and before he died John Huss said, “You may burn the goose [and the word huss is the Bohemian word for “goose”], but a hundred years from now there shall rise a swan that you cannot destroy.” Exactly 102 years after John Huss was burned at the stake Martin Luther started the Reformation that could not be stopped. And what men thought they could destroy, they soon discovered was the work of God that could not be stopped by their efforts. The foundation of God stood sure.
It is just as true today. Persecution is being waged against the Gospel and the church of the living God and Christian people all over the world, but let it come. We know this, the foundation stands sure.
I once had a delightful visit with Joseph Ton, the executive director of the Romanian Mission Board and he invited me to come to Romania. He said, “If you would go to my former church they would remove all of the pews from the house of worship that seats 2,000 people and 3,000 people would stand for two hours to listen to you preach. Thousands more would stand on the outside to listen by P.A. system if you would go there to preach.” And then he began to tell me about the work of God that resulted in there being more Baptists in Romania than in any other country in the Communist bloc.
We asked Joseph to explain why the work of God was going forward in such a wonderful and dramatic way in Romania. He said the leaders got together years before and decided that suffering was a part of their calling to follow Christ. “We had to be willing to endure prison and even death if we were going to be genuine followers of his,” he said. And then Joseph quoted what Jesus said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). He explained, “If we are determined to stay alive, we stay alone. But if we are willing to die, we multiply.” And from that day forward they were willing to experience imprisonment and even death for the cause of Christ if necessary.
They lost their fear of the government officials and preached with new boldness and liberty in the churches. They were forbidden by the government to call the people to sacrifice. But at their times of invitation they said to them, “If you become a Christian, you may very well lose your job. If you become a Christian, you will not get a promotion. If you become a Christian, you may not gain admittance to the university. There is a price to be paid. But if you count Jesus Christ as greater treasure than all of that then you come to follow him.”
And with that kind of preaching and with the willingness to suffer imprisonment and death, Joseph said the work of God was sweeping the country. Officials called him in and threatened to put him in prison for his preaching. Joseph said, “It would be an honor to be imprisoned for the cause of Christ. Put me in jail.” They said, “We will kill you if you continue to preach.” He said, “It would be a joy to give my life’s blood for the name of Jesus Christ.” And then Joseph reminded those threatening him, “Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. So if you would, put me to death. But remember this, that when you do you will sprinkle my blood on the tapes of my sermons that are spread all over this country. And people will suddenly say, ‘Maybe we had better listen to those tapes again for he has sealed his sermons with his blood; he must believe what he says.’”
The government officials decided that they couldn’t afford to put him to death. Finally, as a last resort, they deported him and he moved to the US. From there through Radio Free Europe he broadcast his sermons every week to millions of people in Romania behind the Iron Curtain. Though they had taken every step possible to stamp out the work of God, it continued to go forward in a great and dramatic way, testifying again and again that even though persecution may come, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Men cannot destroy it.
2. You must be alert to false teachings. There is a second truth: error may arise, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure. Error was already creeping into the young church. Hymenaeus and Philetus were taking the truth of the Gospel, the resurrection of Jesus, and they were twisting it to say that the resurrection had already passed and they were leading many people astray.
The cornerstone of our faith is the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus died on the old rugged cross for our sins. The sinless Son of God died in our place, became our substitute, was our sacrifice. He was buried in Joseph’s tomb on the third day. He came out of the grave alive, conquering death and sin and hell itself, marching forward to victory and because he lives we shall live also. Because he lives we know he is the Son of God. Because he lives our sins can be forgiven. Everything rests on the resurrection. And Hymenaeus and Philetus were taking that cornerstone of the Christian faith and twisting it for their own purposes and designs and leading many astray. But Paul said to Timothy, “Even though error has arisen, the foundation stands.”
Jesus taught us that error would come in the last days. Many shall depart from the faith and because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall grow cold and there will come in the world not only apostasy but a chilling indifference among many of God’s people, but that won’t endanger the foundation. The truth of God shall endure.
Somebody has said that a heretic is a person who has a full grasp of a half-truth. And you can turn the radio or the television on any hour of the day or night and find people who are proclaiming half-truths as the whole truth. And if you listen to them, you will be misled by them and the truth of God is perverted by them. But let me tell you that though cults arise and heresies prosper, the foundation of God still stands. Nothing can shake it. Build on Jesus Christ and the truth of God’s word and you are on solid footing.
3. Your faith must not depend on your leaders. Persecution may come. Heresies and errors may arise, but the foundation stands secure. One last truth: the leaders may die, but the foundation still stands.
Paul would say in the very next few pages, the time of my departure has come. What would the church do without him? He is the man who with a sterling faith and courage and stamina and conviction, honeycombed the Roman Empire with the Gospel. How could the church survive without the apostle Paul? But he knew that the workmen die and the work goes on. He had learned that from the Old Testament days.
Moses had led the children of Israel through the Red Sea. In the wilderness he had met God face to face on the mountain and passed the law from God on to his people. He had been their link to God and they had relied upon him for everything. And they come to the borders of the Promised Land and their leader Moses dies. But God already had another to take his place. Joshua is there, trained, ready, prepared to lead them into the Promised Land, saying to Israel of old, “The workers may die, but the work goes on.” Your faith is not in any man or any group of men. Your faith is in the living God and the workers may die but the foundation of God stands sure.
You put it all together and Paul is saying, “Let come what may into this world. We rest on faith in God and Christ. And nothing can shake that.”
In the declining days of the League of Nations, Henry Sloan Coffin, a Presbyterian educator and pastor in Washington, D.C., was taking a walk with William Howard Taft, the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Henry said to Mr. Taft, “What do you think of the League of Nations now?”
And the chief justice replied, “Don’t you know that in this world we always crucify the best things, but they rise again.” If a thing is of God, man cannot destroy it. Let come what may, nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.
It was said that G. Campbell Morgan, the great preacher, lived with his Bible in his hand and his face toward a better world. We can all live that way, believing and trusting in Jesus the Son and the Savior. We can live with our Bible in our hands and our face toward a better world. Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure.