Turn with me now to 2 Timothy
2. 2 Timothy 2. I would like for us to look at
this message in a matter-of-fact way. Just a matter-of-fact declaration. Kind of like a Bible study, I
guess. There is some important information
in here. There is some comforting information,
need-to-know information. And I'd like to see if the Lord
will just make it clear. I just wanna, I'm gonna state
a declaration and then I'll stop. That's how it'll go. We just
looked at verse eight for our Bible study, which says, remember that Jesus Christ of
the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my
gospel, my gospel. Oh, that God would make the gospel
to become my gospel. Something that I'm joined to,
something that I'm in a vital union with, something that's not just in
my head, but in my heart. One man used to say that salvation
is roughly 18 inches, the distance from the head to the heart. And I believe that's so. I believe
that's right. I need to know that my Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead
for me. For me. Not just for sinners. for me, not just for his chosen
people, for me. I need for this gospel to be
my gospel. Only the Lord can make that to
be so. Of him are we in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Only God can make that vital
union to be so. So we beg. We beg him. We beg him, Lord,
please make the gospel, your gospel, to be my gospel. Give Christ crucified to me. To me, even me, even me, let
thy blessings fall on me. Verse eight, Paul said, 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. He said, it is because of my
gospel that I'm in prison. because of my gospel that I'm
in prison. Now, just in case anyone is not aware of this,
and I'm being very serious, I believe there may be some who do not
realize this. So I just want to make it known.
The truth of God's word, the truth of God's gospel, it is
not a popular message with the world. just in case someone does
not know that. It is not a popular message among
religion. The truth of what God has written
in his word, it is not popular with the world and with religion. It never has been and it never
will be. The first two children that were
born into this world, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel because of this
message. He did. Noah had an ark with a door wide
open for seven days. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
He had an ark with a door wide open for seven days and no one
would come in. And it's all because they did
not believe his message. They did not desire his message.
They had no need for his message. The prophets, the apostles, they
were beaten, they were stoned, they were tortured because of
this message by religion. God in human flesh was hung on
a cross to die because of this message, because the world hated his own
message. And because of that, our Lord
said, it should be of no shock to you. when the general masses
of the world and the general masses of religion despise the
truth and reject the truth that you declare straight out of God's
word. He said, they hated me for it
and they will hate you for it. Paul said, this is the whole
reason I'm in prison. It's the only reason I'm in prison. It's just for declaring the truth
of God's word. Now I say that to those of you
who believe so you can have a little encouragement in the like sufferings,
the same sufferings of our brethren before us. And so you can have
a little understanding of why your gospel is not popular and
not well received by many who you know and love. You get a
hold of the truth of God's word, God opens your eyes, he opens
your heart, and you see it, and you love it, and you need it,
and you run to everybody you know and love, and you say, here
it is! And you think, you know, they're
just gonna love it like I did. And then they don't. So sad. I say this to those of
you who God has given a heart to believe what he's written.
So it'll be an encouragement and a little understanding of
why things are the way they are. And I say this to those who do
not believe in hopes that God will cause you to look at this
again, look at it again, and that he'll open your heart to
say, you know what? Let God be true, but every man
a liar. Salvation is evidenced by faith
in God's Word. Salvation is evidenced by believing
what God has written in His Word. Salvation is not evidenced by
good deeds. It is not evidenced by good deeds. The majority of this world, And
I do mean the majority of this world, it wrongly believes every
false doctrine on earth, which is any doctrine that is different
from what God has written right here. There's only one true doctrine,
the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of God. But every false denomination
on earth believes that good people go to heaven, and bad people
go to hell. I've now lived long enough and
I've had enough run-ins with different denominations and different
religious beliefs that I realize if it's other than this, that's
the core of what they believe. Good people go to heaven, bad
people go to hell. Some say, this is the doctrine
of some, that you have to be a good person in order to go
to heaven. Some say that being a good person
is the cause of going to heaven. Some have a completely different
doctrine. They have a totally different belief. Some say being
a good person is the evidence of going to heaven. But even though those two beliefs
are completely opposite of each other, As long as the good works
of man are involved somewhere, as long as the good works of
man are somehow involved, this world will accept it and will
unify with it. We're going to bring all the
denominations together and we're going to unify. And they will
love it. They will love it. If the good
works of man are somehow involved as a component of salvation,
the world will unify with it, love it. The only problem with
that is this world is going to be wrong. I say that so fearfully,
I want to crawl up under the pulpit as I say that. I don't
say that haughtily. I don't say it arrogantly, pridefully. This world is willing to accept
and to unify with and to love a lie. But that lie is going
to bring eternal damnation to this world. You see why it's
not popular? You see why it's not popular?
I think about this a lot. You know, I do think about what
our Lord said. And then I think about the end
of men and women. You know, I think, well, they're
not gonna like this. People are not gonna like this. Gabe, they're
gonna hate you for saying this. But if we don't say it, there's
no hope. There's no hope. Why are you
saying this? Because I love people. I care
about people. I care about the end of men and
women. The truth of God's Word says
that man being a good person has nothing to do with salvation
at all. Now, please don't misunderstand
me. I would rather men and women be, in quotes, good people than
bad people. I would. I would rather, you
know, people be good, in quotes, than bad. But the truth of God's word says
men and women being good is not the cause of salvation or the
evidence of salvation. And the reason is because, according
to God's word, no man or woman is good. That's what it says. There is none good, comma, no,
comma, not one. There is none good but God. All have sinned. All are unrighteous. There is none righteous. Isn't
that what it says? All are unholy. All are filthy. So the Word of God says, the
cause of salvation, therefore, is Christ. The cause of salvation is Christ. The father chose a people in
Christ. Christ is the elect. And God's
people were chosen in him. And the word of God says salvation
itself is Christ. Salvation is a person. It is
the living, it is the dying, it is the accomplishment of Christ
for his people, in the stead of his people. And it says the
evidence of receiving that salvation is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The good deeds of men and women
have no part in it at all. Men and women get no credit in
the truth of God's salvation at all. And that's why it's not
popular with men and women in the flesh at all. Verse nine, Paul said, wherein
I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word
of God is not bound. I'm so glad to hear that. I'm
so glad to hear that. Paul said, I may be bound. Here I am literally bound. Didn't
it please the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe? Well, Paul's locked up in prison. What's he going
to do? He said, I may be bound, but
God is not. His word reaches to the uttermost. the gutter most, as one man said
it. His word is able to seek and
to save that which was lost. His word is quick, that means
living, alive, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. What that means is His Word can
go anywhere and do anything. His Word will get His own. His Word is not bound by men. His Word doesn't go forth by
man's might or man's power or man's anything. It goes forth
by His Spirit. And Paul said, even though I
feel so insufficient and so unprofitable right now, being bound in this
prison, he said, that will not hinder the sovereign God at all. In his ministry of calling his
sheep to himself through the preaching of the gospel. Therefore,
Paul said in verse 10, I endure all things for the elect's sake. that they may also obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. And let me just point out what
that verse is saying to us. Number one, it's saying God has
an elect people, a people that he elected to save. Number two,
it says salvation is already accomplished. It does not say the salvation
that will be. It says the salvation which is. It already is. The salvation
that is going to be accomplished has already been accomplished.
Every soul that is going to be saved has already been saved. When from the cross of Calvary,
our Lord Jesus Christ cried, it is finished. He was not speaking
figuratively. He was speaking literally. He
was not speaking futuristically. He was speaking right now. Right
now. He said, right now in this moment,
it is finished. He said, father, I have finished
the work you gave me to do. What was the work? Call his name,
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. Salvation
is finished for every soul that's gonna be saved. And the father
elected who those souls would be. So this verse tells us, number
one, God has an elect people. Number two, all of them are already
saved. And number three, the salvation
that God provided for all those people, it was in Christ Jesus. Verse 10, 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. What does that mean? What does
that mean? It was in Christ. What does that
mean? Well, that means it wasn't in the law. It was in Christ. People go looking for salvation
in the law. It's not in the law. It's in
Christ. It means that it wasn't in our
morality. And don't get me wrong. I'd rather
people be moral than immoral, but salvation is not in our morality. Salvation was in Christ. It wasn't in our family line,
it wasn't in our bloodline, our lineage, it was in Christ. It was in Christ. It started
with Christ, it was accomplished by Christ, and the end of it
is in Christ. There are three main components
to our salvation. Christ, Christ, and Christ. The Father chose us in Christ.
The Son redeemed us by Christ. The Spirit will call us to Christ.
What about me? Where am I in that? You're not. The sum and substance of salvation
is Christ. And not only do we need to stop
looking to ourselves for the cause and the evidence of our
salvation, we must stop looking to ourselves for the cause and
the evidence of salvation. Looking to ourselves is faith
in ourselves, and there's no evidence of salvation in that.
The evidence of salvation is faith in Christ. Turn with me
over to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 1 it says, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the
faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. It was all in Christ. It was all in Christ. Okay, what
does that mean? What does that mean? Verse four.
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. That's election. The Father chose
who would be in Christ before the foundation of the world.
In John 15, he said, you have not chosen me, I chose you. People think that in order to
be saved, they have to make a decision for Christ. That's pretty common,
isn't it? People think they have to choose
Christ. They think they have to make
the choice for Christ to give salvation to them. And again,
I'm gonna say this so humbly, but that is ridiculous and absurd
in every situation, on every level. That is completely, that
would be just like me saying, I have made the decision I have
chosen for Elon Musk to give me a billion dollars. What's the difference? Will I
get the billion dollars? I'll go ahead and choose it right
now. You want me to do that? I choose right now, publicly. You're going to give your confession? Yeah, I choose for him to give
me a billion dollars. Am I going to get the billion
dollars? No. The only way that I could get
a billion dollars is if Elon Musk made the decision to give
me a billion dollars. Is that not so? It's his to give. And it's his choice to make.
And that's exactly how it was in salvation. It was his to give
and his choice to make. And He made His choice according
to His own Word before the foundation of the world, before any good
or evil had ever been done. And He made His choice in Christ. He based it on the person and
the work of Christ. He didn't base it on man. Well,
you know, God looked down through time to see who would believe
on Him and who would do good. He didn't base it on man. He
based it on Christ. He based it on Christ. Verse
three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself. according to the good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. He chose us in Christ. He adopted us in Christ. He accepted us in Christ. He redeemed us in Christ. And He forgave us in Christ. All according to the good pleasure
of His will. All according to the riches of his grace. It started
with him. It ended with him. It's done. It's done. Alright, then somebody
will ask. Somebody's going to ask. If what you're saying is so. What's the point in preaching? If what you're saying is so,
why are you even in the career you're in? What's the point in
preaching? Go back to 2 Timothy 2. Somebody will say, if you are
not trying to get anybody saved, Because according to you, according
to God's word, Christ has already saved everybody that's going
to be saved. Then what's the point in preaching? What's the point in preaching?
Here it is. Preaching is a notification of who Christ is and what he
has already done for his people. And it's through this notification
that God's elect redeemed people receive faith to believe on the
Christ that they were chosen and redeemed in. That's what we're doing right
now. We are notifying. We are notifying. If Elon Musk
chose to give me a billion dollars, at some point, somebody would
come tell me. Hopefully. And when they did, it would be
a notification. Let me tell you who did what. Who he did it for. Right now we're notifying. We
are not begging. We're not begging now. Come on
now. Come on now. We're not begging. We are not
pleading. We are not asking. We're not
asking. There will be no altar call at
the end of this. The sacrifice of God has already
burned on his altar. Christ on the cross of Calvary.
So the end of this message is not a call to action in any way,
shape, or form. Well, what do I need to do? Men
and brethren, what shall we do? You know what they said? Nothing. Aren't you going to leave me
with something to do? Yeah. Rest. Cease from your own works as
God has from his. The end of His message is not
a call to action in any way, shape, or form for the securing
of anybody's salvation. This is a notification that Christ
has already secured it. And we obtain or we lay hold
of that security within ourselves the moment that God, not us,
but God in His time sends faith faith in Christ through the preaching
of his word. This is God's means of quickening
the redeemed souls that he chose to save. And if through the preaching
of this word, God has quickened you to Christ, what does that
mean? That means he's turned your eyes
and your heart away from yourself and away from the law and away
from everything that every man has said to Jesus Christ alone. If God
has made Christ to be the answer for everything, if God has made
Christ to be all your hope, all your hope stands on nothing less
than the Lord Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. If you
dare not trust the sweetest frame of those lies being whispered
in your ear, you don't trust any of them, you wholly, completely
lean on the Lord Jesus Christ's name, then on Christ the solid
rock you stand. you do stand and you're included
in everything that his people have obtained in him. So I'm done. Verse eight, Paul
said, 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 under 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. I pray that notification will
be received and believed by the spirit and power of God. Amen.