WORD OF GOD NOT BOUND

Dr.  W.  A.  Criswell

2 Timothy 2:2-9

10-12-58    7:30 p.m.

We turn to 2 Timothy, the second chapter.   We read from the seventh through the thirteenth verses; 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 7 through 13.   The message tonight is the text The Word of God Is Not Bound, 2 Timothy 2:7 through 13.  Now let us all read it together; 2 Timothy 2:7 through 13:

Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from

the dead according to my gospel:

Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evildoer, even unto bonds; but the

word of God is not bound.

Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may

also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

It is a faithful saying:  For if we be dead with Him, 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.

[2 Timothy 2:7-13]

And the text:  2 Timothy 2:9:

Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evildoer, even unto bonds; but the Word of God is not bound.

The comparison that the apostle makes there between his own chains and imprisonment and the freedom that he envisages for the Word of God is most impressive.

Paul spent no small part of his life as a preacher of the gospel in jail, in prison, chained to soldiers, chained to a rock, his feet in stocks.  No small proportion of his life, he was bound, incarcerated in the provinces as at Philippi, in Judea, as at Caesarea, and the years of his imprisonment in Rome, and this final and last imprisonment in which he lost his life.

But as the apostle spent the years bound and chained behind heavy stone walls, or in dungeons cut out of solid rock, he lifted up his heart, and he lifted up his face, and beyond those stone walls and beyond those prison bars, he saw the freedom, the propagation, the sowing, the scattering of the Word of God.  It could not be enchained.  It could not be coffined.  It could not be entombed.  It could not be slain or executed or beheaded.  Beyond every wall and bar, beyond every mountain range and sea, even to the isles of the far away oceans, he saw the winged Word of the Holy Spirit of God.

  “I am in bonds, chained and in prison, but the word of God is not bound” [2 Timothy 2:9].  And the message this evening is an affirmation of that glorious word of the apostle Paul, the strength, the power, the immutability, the invincibility of the Word of God: for the Word of God is not bound; Isaiah 55:11, “My word shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that whereunto I have sent it.”  And bitter hatred and violent hostility cannot obstruct it.

Jehoshaphat said to Ahab, the king of Israel, “Shall we go up to Ramoth Gilead and take it? It is ours, but it lies in the hands of the heathen Syrian.”  And Ahab said, “Let me call all of my prophets and ask them.”  And those false prophets, knowing that Ahab wished to lead his army in a glorious campaign, prophesied saying, “God has given you Ramoth Gilead.  Go up against it and take it” [1 Kings 22:2-6].

But Jehoshaphat the king of Judah said to Ahab, “But is there not one other prophet of the Lord of whom we could inquire?”  And Ahab replied, “Yes, there is one other, but I hate him because he prophesies evil of me and no