Turn with me to 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1, we will pick up with
verse 11, but let's start reading in verse 1. 2 Timothy 1, verse
1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, according to the promise of life which
is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my dearly beloved
son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, in Christ
Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from
my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day. Greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy
when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and in thy mother Eunice,
and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in
remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee
by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved
us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. whereunto I am appointed a preacher
and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which
cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. In verse 11, Paul said, I am
appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. Number one, thank God he sent
the gospel to the Gentiles. Thank God he sent the gospel
to the Gentiles. We take a verse like that so
for granted. So, for granted, we are Gentiles. Any person on this earth who
is not a Jew is a Gentile. And this gospel of salvation
was first promised to the Jews. It was promised to the Jews.
Turn over to John 4. John chapter 4. John 4 verse 21, Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship you know
not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews. When
our Lord first sent the disciples out to preach, this is what he
said to them. He said, do not go to the Gentiles, but go rather to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. That's who I want you to go to.
Don't go to the Gentiles. Ephesians 2 says, but God, who
is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us. And Paul was writing to the Ephesians
when he said that, wherewith he loved us. And he went on down
to say, Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. He
said, you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world. That's where we would
be had he left us there. That's where we would be. Had
he left us alone, that's where we would be. Paul said, but now
in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ, For He is our peace. He's our peace through
the blood of His cross. For God so loved the world. Anybody ever heard that verse
of scripture? For God so loved the world, the Gentiles too. Thank God,
the Gentiles too. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son to die for them too. He included
Gentiles in the redemption that is in Christ. It was to the Jew
first, but thank God it was also to the Greek, also to the Gentile. And Paul said, that is specifically
who I was sent to. I was appointed to teach and
preach to the Gentiles. And aren't we so thankful for
that? You know, this thing of election, God choosing who he
would save. And people say, well, that's
not fair. You know, he didn't include me. That's not fair. What if
he hadn't included Gentiles? All of us would be the ones saying,
well, wait a minute, that's not fair. What do you mean the Jews
only? We're Gentiles. What do you mean I can't do anything
about it? Thank God. Thank God. He's a God of mercy. He's a God
of compassion. He's a God of love. The Lord can pass by whoever
He wants to pass by. That's what we ought to take
from this. The Lord can pass by whoever He wants to pass by. You know, it's like people think
they're owed salvation, like God has to accept them into heaven. He can pass by whoever He wants
to pass by. He passes by people all the time. He passes by people all the time. Aren't we so glad he allowed
the gospel to come to us? Turn over to Romans 10. Paul said he was appointed to
be an apostle a preacher, and a teacher. All three. An apostle was one
who spoke God's actual words. That's what an apostle was. An
apostle was a man who God used to speak through, to literally
declare what he had to say to the world for the first time.
He spoke, these men were moved by the Holy Spirit of God. Apostles
were writers and literal givers of God's Word. That's what an
apostle was. A preacher, the definition of
the word preacher is a herald, a heralder, one who repeats the
Word of God. It means a herald of divine truth. That's what a preacher is. Preachers
don't give new words from God. You know, you, Oh God spoke to
me and he told me to tell you. That's not what a preacher does.
Preachers don't give, there is no new word from God. God gave
it. That's what he gave. Preachers do not give new words
from God, they just repeat God's word. That's what a preacher
does. So that's an apostle and that's a preacher. A teacher
is one who rightly divides and explains and makes clear and
gives the sense of the word that has been given and heralded. Paul said, I was called to be
all of those, one who received word directly from the Lord,
one who declared, thus saith the Lord, and one who taught
and instructed and made clear what the Lord was saying in his
word. And there are no more apostles, but we still do have teachers
and preachers. And we preach God's word. by preaching all of God's Word. How do we preach God's Word?
Here's how we do it. By preaching all of God's Word. A true preacher will preach all
of God's Word. And we teach God's word by comparing
God's word with God's word. This is how we teach it. We understand
what he's saying by seeing all of what he said in context. And this is the reason why we
do this. This is why we're here right
now. This is the reason why we're here, doing what we're doing.
Romans 10, look at verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report? Verse 17 says, so then faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That's why
we do this. That's why we preach and teach. It's because it produces faith
in the hearts of God's people. It literally produces faith in
God's people. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Hebrews 11 says without faith
it is impossible to please God. So we preach and we teach in
hopes that the Lord will give us faith and will increase our
faith. causes us to believe. If he does, if he causes us to
believe, if we become believers through the preaching and teaching
of his word, what will we believe? What do believers believe? What do true believers believe? Go with me back to 2 Timothy
1. Verse 11 says, Whereunto I am
appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the
Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer
these things. He said it's because I'm a preacher
and teacher of God's truth that I'm being persecuted. This is
why I'm sitting in prison right now. Verse 12, For the which
cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed
for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. What does true God-given faith
produce in His people? What do true believers believe? And when I say true believers,
I mean other than those who go around telling everybody, oh,
I'm a believer. I'm a believer. A believer of
what? All right? There are people who claim to
be believers, but are not. And then there are people who
are believers. True believers. What do true
believers believe? Here it is. Okay, here it is.
I know who. I know who. Not what. Not what. Spurgeon says that
he asked a man one time, what do you believe? And the man said, well, I believe
what my pastor believes. And Spurgeon said, well, what
does your pastor believe? The man said, he believes what
I believe. And Spurgeon said, well, what
do you and your pastor believe? The man said, same thing. We
believe the same thing. All right, everybody's trying
to figure out what they believe. Everybody's trying to figure
out what they believe. And while everybody's doing that,
God's people believe who? I know who. Who I have believed and am persuaded. That means I am convinced. I am absolutely certain. that
He is able. And to that God's people will
also add, and I'm not able. He is able. I don't need to help
Him. I don't need to help Him. Won't
you help God? Won't you let God? Won't you
He has no hands but your hands and you're gonna have to, I cannot
help, I don't need some work of the flesh insurance policy. Not only do I not need to help
him, I can't help him. This is what true believers believe.
I'm not able. I am not able. My faith is in
Him. My faith is not in my faith. Are you going to go to heaven?
Yeah. How do you know? Well, because I'm a Christian.
So what? My faith is not in me. It's not
in what I am. It's not in what I do. It's not
in what I believe. It's not in how I act. My faith
is in Him. I believe that He is able to keep, to literally keep. That means to preserve, to guard
safely, to protect, to care for that which I have committed unto
Him against that day. What have I committed unto Him
against that day? My life. My life. My soul. My salvation. My all. I've committed my all unto Him.
Why'd you do that? He made me. He did it for me. The Lord Jesus Christ is my all
and in all. That's what a believer believes.
That's what faith causes a believer to believe. A person His ability
if you want to get right down you want to like just cut it
all down to the foundation What does a true believer believe
a person and his ability? Turn with me to Romans 4 Romans 4, this is speaking of
Abraham's faith in God's promise to him of giving him a son. And I'll just say that, you know,
this ought to prove that our faith is in Christ because you
know what Abraham's works were in his flesh. You know what Abraham
did. You know the story of He took Sarah's handmaid and,
you know, Abraham in his flesh was a wreck. But in Christ, faith
is of Christ, to Christ, it's in Christ. In Christ, verse 17
says, as it is written, I've made thee a father of many nations.
Abraham didn't have any kids yet. And God's word to him was,
I'm going to make you a father of many nations. And his wife
Sarah was already past childbearing age. But verse 17, as it is written,
I've made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which
be not as though they were, even if it's not that way yet, and
even if it seems to be an impossibility. If God says it's going to be
that way, it's going to be that way. Verse 17, even as it's written,
I've made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which
be not as though they were, who against hope believed in hope
that he might become the father of many nations according to
that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when he was
about 100 years old. Neither yet the deadness of Sarah's
womb, He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully
persuaded that. What did he believe? What was
his faith? Being fully persuaded that what
he had promised, he was able also to perform. That's what
faith believes. Whatever he has said, he is able
to make it come to pass. And he will make it come to pass.
Verse 21, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. That's what Abraham believed.
That's what Paul believed. That's what all of God's people
believe. If he says it, it will be done. If he says it is done,
it is done. God-given faith does not say,
now he wants to, he's trying to, but he can't until you let him.
I really want to make that clear. That is not God-given faith. Whatever he wants to do, that's
what he's going to do. Everything He has promised, He's
able. Verse 21, being fully persuaded
that what He had promised He was able also to perform, and
therefore it was imputed to Him for righteousness. Now it was
not written for His sake alone that it was imputed to Him. but
for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Through the preaching and teaching
of the gospel, the truth of what God has to say in his word, through
the preaching of that truth, the faith of God is given to
his people. And when true faith is given
to God's people, it causes every one of them to say, I know whom
I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day through this
preaching and teaching. May God give that faith to us
right now. May God increase our faith right
now. Amen.