424: Simon de Caussin - Exhortation: The Faithful Sayings

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   Welcome to Good Christadelphian Talks. Thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our daily news feed. Each week, we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then, we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk.

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   And now, let's talk more about this week's talk. Hello, everyone. This is Simon. This week's talk is an exhortation by our brother Simon Corson at Verdugo Hills on the faithful sayings. I thought it was a good reminder to listen to these simple sayings and take some time to meditate on these things and to try and better action them in our lives.

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   So, here is our brother Simon on the faithful sayings. In my exhortation this morning, I'd like to share a few passages that I think will be helpful reminders on our walk to the kingdom of God. Maybe you've noticed them, but in the New Testament, we find a few short, sweet, but ultimately powerful statements that I'm going to be calling the faithful sayings.

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   I call them that because the writer, who's usually Paul for most of them, he provides a clear preface before stating those sayings. He writes, this is a faithful saying. Sometimes, and this is particularly where we find those phrases in the book of 1 Timothy, he adds that the saying is worthy of all acceptation, which is a very archaic word.

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   What I think is really great about these verses is that they are short and effective. They express profound but simple truths. Now, this morning, I want to look at these faithful sayings together and distill them down to the core ideas that they communicate to us. The ideas that are in those faithful sayings are not necessarily of what you might think of as the first principle variety, but they are powerful and they can speak to us on an impactful and, in some cases, I find an emotional level.

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   Before we jump right into the verses, I'll take a moment to elaborate on what it means for a saying to be faithful. The word that the King James Version uses, which is faithful, it's a bit ambiguous to me what's meant by that. It doesn't immediately bring to mind the meaning that I think is being intended here.

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   So that's an ambiguity that is pretty easily resolved when you take a look at a newer version. The idea conveyed by the Greek word translated faithful here is that these sayings are trustworthy. They are reliable sayings. You can figuratively lean on them and be supported. These are the simple truths that our faith can be built on, and writing them on the tables of our heart is an effective way to keep them with us wherever we go.

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   To say that the sayings are worthy of all acceptation, as Paul does, is to say that these sayings deserve to be fully accepted. But fully how? What is the fullness referring to? I can think of at least two answers to that question. The first is that Paul is suggesting that these sayings are worth believing fully, accepting them fully, wholeheartedly.

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   Not like the partial lukewarm belief and action that the Laodiceans are rebuked for in Revelation 3. Not like the doubter who James compares to a wave of the sea blown about by the wind. But instead, let these sayings, when we fully accept them and fully believe them, let them be a rock to us like the foundation upon which the wise man built his house.

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    After all, that house did not fall because it was built on a rock. So that's potentially what Paul is suggesting, that these are worthy to be fully believed. The second possible interpretation is that these sayings are worthy to be accepted universally by everyone. That may be what worthy of all acceptation may mean.

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    But whatever meaning you you tend to think is being meant, it's clear that these statements are basic and easy to be understood by all, and that Paul recommends accepting them. So let's jump into our first faithful saying. We're going to find that in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15. This is probably my favorite of all of them.

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    Verse 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. So there's our first sample. And what a worthy saying that is. It's very strong, very powerful. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now we can elaborate on that idea a little bit further.

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    We can fill in some of those gaps if we wanted to and say that Jesus came into the world by being sent by God, that Jesus was his only beloved son, and that God gave him up willingly, that whoever would believe in him would be saved. But Paul's brilliantly pared down saying doesn't neglect any of that.

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    It is short, but it's not neglecting any of that information. It's all there, reduced to the essentials. Jesus came into the world, and his mission was to save sinners. Now we read elsewhere in Romans, where Paul writes that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's Romans 3, verse 23.

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    Now when you compare that to what's being stated in 1 Timothy chapter 1, it really increases the scope of Jesus' mission. Because all have sinned, all are sinners. And because all are sinners, we can all benefit from the redemption that's being offered by Jesus. He came into the world to save all of us, because we are all sinners.

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    Now surely this saying is a great one to keep in our minds. Because whenever we are feeling weak, whenever we feel that our human nature is prevailing over our better judgment, remember that Jesus came into the world to save people like us. Remember that Jesus' mission has not failed, and will never fail.

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    We will personally share in his victory over sin when our natures are changed. So maybe you can see why this is a faithful saying, a trustworthy, reliable saying, in Paul's estimation. It's a spiritual lifeline, and one that we ought to keep handy in our minds. Now, before I jump into the next saying, I want to spend some time thinking about Paul's last remark at the end of that verse, where he says that he was the chief of sinners.

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    sinners. And really, if you think about what he means by that, Paul is saying that he is the worst sinner in the whole world. He's the chief and the top of the group. In the three verses prior to the faithful saying, so this is in 1 Timothy 1, verses 12 through 14, we get a little bit of context where he's coming from when he makes that point.

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    We read, And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, he's talking about himself, and a persecutor and injurious. But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly and on belief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.

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    So this passage gives us a little bit of insight into where Paul's coming from when he identifies himself as the chief of all sinners. I'm sure that none of us can relate exactly to Paul's sins and being a persecutor, but perhaps we can relate to feeling wretched and unworthy of the call that we're receiving and being the beneficiary of.

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    Maybe we've even felt that we're worse sinners than most people around us. It's that mindset that Paul is speaking to when he reminds us of Jesus's mission to save sinners. It's people like us that are offered salvation. It doesn't matter what mistakes we've made in the past. That is the great blessing of forgiveness.

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    Even Paul was counted faithful because of the exceeding abundance of the Lord's grace. We are people who, to human justice, do not deserve redemption, but to God's justice are undeservingly given it by faith. Jesus came into the world to save people like us. That was our first faithful saying. The second one is very brief and I find it self -evidently true, but it's still good to spend some time looking at it.

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    It's just two chapters later in 1 Timothy 3. It's the first verse and I'm going to read this one from the ESV. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Now this passage suggests that having a leadership role in the ecclesia is a good thing.

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    Now we can temper this desire to serve as a leader with the reality we read from other passages, the reminders of the responsibility and the scrutiny that leaders of the ecclesia are subject to. For example, in James 3, we read, my brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

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    And even in 1 Timothy 3 itself, later in the chapter, it goes on to show that being an overseer has requirements relating to the character of the man desiring that leadership role. But I want to take the core idea out of this faithful saying and make it universally applicable. The reliable saying suggests that whoever wants to serve the ecclesia desires a noble thing.

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    It's a simple idea and clearly true. Serving the ecclesia is a good thing. It has benefits for the individual and for the body. Now whether or not the aspiration is there, whether or not we really desire leadership roles, they might be, those things might be helpful in getting work done, but they're ultimately secondary.

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    The service is the good thing, and that is something that all of us can get involved with. Let's move on to another faithful saying, this time in 1 Timothy 4, verses 6 through 9. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

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    But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. So the placement of verse 9, the last sentence that I read there, to me it does make what the faithful saying is maybe a little uncertain, but the way that it reads to me, the faithful saying in that passage is this, that godliness is profitable unto all things, especially because it has promise not only for today, but for the future.

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    It's a great saying, and I think it's especially powerful in the way that Paul is contrasting it with the other ways that we can be spending our time. Sure, bodily exercise, and other versions, it does really seem like it's talking about exercise. It's talking about bodily training or physical training, and other versions.

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    Sure, that is a valuable thing. And if this is referring to physical fitness and bodily health, of course, those are good things, and we shouldn't neglect them. But those things only profit a little. That's what his point is. And that profit is a pittance in comparison with the reward tied to godliness. Though it isn't earned, God is pleased to reward his people with the kingdom of God.

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    So by comparison, this trustworthy saying is simply showing us that spiritual endeavors and godliness are more worthwhile than anything we spend time in the world. For the simple reason that godliness is capable of reaping benefits beyond what can be earned in this life alone. We don't serve for rewards. And Paul isn't even saying that exercise is bad.

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    It's a simple saying showing that one way of life is greater than the other. We would do well to remember that when we consider how we spend our time. Godliness is profitable unto all things.

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    We find the next saying in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Verse 11 through 13. It reads, It is a faithful saying, For if we be dead with him, meaning Jesus, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself.

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    Now, this is certainly the wordiest example that we've looked at so far. The other ones have been very short and compact. But it's still simple in that it illustrates, to my mind, two core ideas about Jesus. One of those ideas is that our suffering and struggle with sin, when we handle it with a spiritual attitude, it aligns us with Jesus and prepares us to be like him and to reign with him in the kingdom age.

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    And even if that recap was a little bit wordy, to put it simpler than that, if we try to be like Jesus today, we shall be like him in the future. That's the lesson being brought out here. And of course, there's another core idea about Jesus in this saying, and it's that Jesus will always be faithful.

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    It is simply not in his nature to deny himself, meaning that the promise is sure, it's certain. He is not capable of denying himself in the same way that God cannot lie. That gives us greater confidence in our hope for the future. Of course, there was once a time when Jesus could make a mistake, like telling a lie.

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    But now that his nature has changed, it is not possible. Going back to that first idea, where we thought about dying with him, then living and reigning with him. I'm reminded of what we demonstrate in the symbol of baptism. The faithful saying began with that conditional statement, if we be dead with him.

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    We can be dead with Christ by baptism. It's a symbolic death where we are dead to sin, but alive to righteousness. And after we're baptized, we do continue to experience temptation and we will sin. But the beauty of redemption is that we aren't required to be perfect people continually. It's just not a realistic expectation, something that we can accomplish.

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    But we can do our best to stay dead to sin with Jesus in the way that we live our lives. And if we do, this saying, this trustworthy saying, is telling us that we will live with him if we can accomplish that. The only part that's in our control is how we act today.

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    We can live like Jesus by putting to death the old man continually until we finally become the new man. Even those verses show us how living after Jesus has promised for the future. Overcome today, and we will live with him in the future. Maybe you're beginning to see a pattern in what these faithful sayings are all about.

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    It's certainly going to come up in this next one, in Titus chapter 3, verse 8. This is the first one, not in the letters to Timothy. Chapter 3, verse 8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will, that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.

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    These things are good and profitable unto men. So the exhortation from this saying, and many of the verses we've already looked at, is now clear. Be careful to maintain good works. I would suggest that the idea about being careful to maintain good works is really more along the lines of taking care to do so.

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    It's not the fear and the worry type of careful, but taking care. In other words, this verse is saying that those who believe in God should take care and thoughtfully maintain good works. In light of what James adds to the topic of justification by faith or by works, we know that maintaining good works is very important.

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    Without works, our faith is dead. In my life, I find it effective to pause and to think about a situation and ask myself, what is the right thing to do here? I'm certainly not the best at doing the right thing, but asking yourself that question and especially thinking about what actions we can be taking to please God, that's a good approach to maintaining good works.

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    It requires conscientiousness, which is why it is helpful to have a trustworthy saying to remember that we can be stirred up to those good works. Now, I would be curious if anybody knows of other faithful sayings in the Bible because now we arrive at the final two that I know of and these are the first to be found somewhere other than in Paul's letters.

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    The same Greek words for faithful saying, by the way, which I think is pistos logos. It doesn't quite come out the same in the King James or even other versions, but that same Greek phrase, pistos logos, is appearing in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. This is the first occurrence that I would say the structure and the format is pretty different than the others, but of course, these words are still faithful and reliable and true.

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    And we see them rendered in Revelation as these words are true and faithful. Maybe that sounds more familiar now when I put it that way. I'm going to be reading a chunk from Revelation 21 and then I'll go to Revelation 22 and we'll hear those words. Beginning at Revelation 21 verses 1 through 5.

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    And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people.

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    And God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed away and he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

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    And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. In chapter 22, verse 6. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

51. 19:14

    It isn't in the scope of our conversation this morning to expand on the imagery from this passage from the book of Revelation, so I'm not going to be spending time doing that. I won't even attempt to pinpoint exactly which words he that sat upon the throne in these verses, which words he means are true and faithful.

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    I believe that that phrase, the position of that phrase at the end of the book of Revelation is suggestive of the fact that they're referring to the whole book. It's easy to see why this book is reliable and trustworthy to believers. Revelation 1 tells us that this revelation from Jesus is intended to show his servants the things that will shortly come to pass.

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    He comes quickly. These words are trustworthy and true because they give us support and showing us in greater detail the fulfillment of our hope and their truthfulness will be manifest to us very soon. Who hasn't been comforted thinking about this vision when God's tabernacle will finally be with his people? Who hasn't been comforted by this imagery where we read that God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.

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    These words are faithful and true and it would do us well to remember them and to lean on them. In conclusion, I want to remind us of the lessons that we've extracted from our faithful sayings. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It is a good thing to serve God and the ecclesia.

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    Godliness is profitable unto all things. It will profit our lives today and in the future age. If we suffer and die with Jesus, we will live with him. We should take care to maintain good works. And finally, the words describing and illustrating our hope in the kingdom of God are faithful and true.

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    Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. As we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus now, recall how he overcame temptation and human weakness.

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    How did he do that? He had faithful sayings in his mind and in his heart that enabled him to resist and to overcome. After his example, let us remember the encouragement that we find recorded in God's book for us. Remember these things and put them into action. That is how we can be like Jesus today in anticipation of our transformation in the future.

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    God bless.