Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verses 12
through 18. Hold fast sound doctrine. Hold fast sound doctrine, which
is the gospel. It's the gospel. And Paul exhorts
Timothy to hold fast. Now he says, and we'll go back
a little bit before I get to verse 12. Paul says in verse
seven, that God has not given us a spirit of fear. He's given
us a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. And he tells
Timothy, be not thou ashamed of the testimony, the gospel
of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. but be partakers of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us
and called us with a 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, he's put an end to it, and hath brought life and immortality
to life through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher, God
has appointed me as a preacher, and an apostle and a teacher
to the Gentiles. And then he says in verse 12,
and it's for this cause, this gospel, the preaching of this
gospel, my appointment as a preacher to preach this gospel, that I'm
suffering. That I'm suffering. That I'm
hated. Paul said in one place, the more
I love, the more I'm hated. The more I love, the less I am
loved. That's what he says. For preaching this gospel, I
have been beaten, I'm hated, and I'm in prison. I'm sitting
in this dungeon because of the gospel. And I'm not ashamed of
that. I'm not ashamed of it. You know,
Paul said in one place that he gloried in his infirmities. He
gloried in those troubles that came his way through the gospel.
He gloried in them. He didn't regret them. He didn't
shy away from them. He counted it a great honor,
a great honor to suffer for Jesus Christ. He said, this is a great
honor. What an attitude. Going through
this trial is a great honor. Isn't that an attitude we ought
to have? That's the correct attitude. And Paul said that he was not
only a preacher of the gospel, but a preacher, a teacher to
the Gentiles. The Gentiles that he preached
to were stirred up at times. I believe it's in Ephesus. The
blacksmiths there, they said, our craft is in danger. Our bank
account's in danger. That's what they're saying. Our
bank account's in danger because people were turning away from
idolatry, worshiping Diana, and they're turning to Christ. He
said, now we gotta do something about this. We have to do something
about this. And I can only imagine Paul going
into these heathen towns and cities. I mean, you can just
see that. I can see that in my mind, going
into these towns that were so given to idolatry. I tell you
what, you want to make somebody mad, take their idol away. Take
their idol. Take that which they idol. Take
it away. And Paul, he went in amongst these Gentile heathens
and began to preach Christ. And Christ began to save some
of these Gentiles and others got mad. And not only did the
Gentiles get mad at him, but the Jews, his own countrymen
hated him. They hated him. You know, at
one time he was their champion. There was a time when Paul was
their champion, but now they hated him. They hated him because
he preached the gospel. He preached salvation by grace. And their whole idea of salvation
was by works, by what they did, the keeping of the law, which
they never kept. They never kept it in any way,
shape, or form. But Paul preached salvation by
grace. He preached the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that our
righteousness, was filthy rags in God's sight. That was offensive
to those Jews because that, to them, was their salvation. And
he preached a risen Lord. He preached Christ risen, Christ
seated at God's right hand. I think one of the greatest comforting
thoughts that I ever, that I have and ever have had and ever will
have is this, the Lord reigns. Jesus Christ is alive and well.
He's alive and well. And he's seated at God's right
hand and he's running this world. I can't preach that enough. I
want to get on the top of a mountain and shout it throughout the world.
Thy God reigneth. Nothing's out of control. Not
one thing on this earth, not even a fly, Not even those waspers
that sting me. I got stung again the other day,
third time. Third time, I haven't been stung
for years. I've got stung three times. But you know the Lord's
under control of that wasper. I thought this, and I'm getting
all messy. I thought this, I thought there
must be some medicinal purpose for this to be stinging me and
I don't realize it. There must be something in that
stinger that I need. But anyway, that wasp is under
his control. I'm telling you, not one, not
one atom in the air is out of the control of our Lord. That's
why I sleep at night. That's why I sleep. David said he can sleep at night
because thou only, he said in the Psalms, thou only makest
me to dwell in safety. That's how I'm safe. God, you
know, I reckon one of my prayers every day is I thank the Lord
for another safe night in an evil world. I do. I thank the
Lord every day. I think he brought us through
another night in a God-hating world, and we're safe. And here
we are this morning, safe. And he's keeping the world at
bay. He does that. But they were angry at him for
this, the Jews and the Gentiles. But he said, nevertheless, though
I sit here in prison, and I'm in this prison, I'm not ashamed. I've preached God's grace. I've
preached God's power to deliver. I've preached that, and here
I sit in prison, and I'm not ashamed. This is the purpose
of God. This is God's purpose. And then he says here in verse
12, for the witch cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless,
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." Now, there's three things I want to
point out on this verse. First of all, there's knowledge.
There is a saving knowledge of Christ. When God saves a sinner,
He's gonna give that sinner a saving knowledge. The old writers called
it a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot
believe in someone you don't know. It's sad that these preachers
that stand in the pulpit, they don't know Christ. I mean, I
know why they don't preach him because they don't know him.
But they stand up and they'll talk about, believe on Christ,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And they never tell you anything
about it. They don't tell you anything. They're just giving
you a name that's in the Bible and telling you to believe on
him. Well, Paul said, they'll come preaching another Jesus.
Now, which one's right? Which one am I to believe on? And I've
said this to someone not long ago. You better make sure the
one you believe on is the right one. Christ said, there'll be
many come saying, there'll be many coming in my name saying,
here's Christ and those Christ. That's what everybody in this
community is saying. That's standing in the pulpit. Christ is here
this morning, Christ is there. No, he's not. Christ is where
his gospel is preached in truth. The gospel that sets him on the
throne, that exalts him on the throne, the gospel that exalts
his work, his person, that's the gospel. That's the gospel.
And that's where he is. So, the first is this, knowledge. There's a spiritual knowledge
of Christ, if there's to be real faith. There's got to be a real
spiritual knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who know
the Lord Jesus Christ, they believe him. And in believing him and
trusting him, they grow in grace and knowledge of him. Where there's
no growth in grace, where there's no growth in the knowledge of
Christ, There's no faith. There is no faith. Well, there's
no knowledge of him, no growth in knowledge. Here's the second
thing that's involved in the salvation of a sinner. First
was knowledge, and second is trust. Trust. We're confident in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a willingness, listen, we
trust in the willingness and the power of Christ to save me. willing to say, he that cometh
to God, now listen, he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
it does not stop there because the devil believes that too.
The word of God says the devil believes and trembles. I don't
want the faith of a devil. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. You have good, you have confidence,
you have trust that the Lord will save you. That he will give
you those things that you ask for, such as forgiveness, pardon,
righteousness. You trust him for these things
and you come to him for them. You don't come to him and see
if it'll happen. You come to him trusting him, taking him
at his word. You're taking him at his word
and that's what you're doing. That's the second thing. Here's the
third thing. First, there's knowledge. And then there is this absolute
trust and confidence that he's willing to save and he has the
power to save. And then the third thing is this. It is an absolute commitment
of everything for time and eternity, not just eternity now. We don't
trust him to save us when it's over, but we worry ourselves
to death in this life. We trust everything to the Lord
Jesus Christ completely, completely. It is a complete committal of
everything to the Lord. The Lord will provide. The Lord
is my righteousness. He's provided me a righteousness.
He's my righteousness. We commit everything to him.
And this is the evidence of a true saving faith. You have a knowledge
of Christ, and you're not a theologian. We're not theologians. I'm not
saying that. You don't have to be a theologian. But I tell you
what you do, you believe he's the Son of God. That's first. You believe, that eunuch said,
I believe he's the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe he is who he says he
is. I believe he is who the Bible reveals him to be. I believe
he's the Messiah. The Savior, He's God manifesting. I believe that with all my heart.
I believe it. And then you trust Him to save
you. And then you commit everything to Him. Lock, stock, and barrel. Everything. You see, you cannot
separate faith and conduct. We can't do it. They go together. This commitment involves knowing
Christ and trusting Him, and leaving everything in His hands.
Leaving everything. And then Paul says to Timothy
in verse 13, hold fast now, after giving him the gospel, there
he's talking about God who saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Now you hold to that. Don't you
add to it and don't you take away from it because it makes
people mad The gospel will make people mad Well, they're mad. Anyway, just brings it out He said you hold for hold fast
You stand your ground Timothy and as I said to you last week,
you know Timothy and Paul and that time was in right in the
teeth of Nero and his first persecution of the church And he says, you
hold fast the form, and the word form there means pattern. The
pattern that I have given to you, the preaching of the gospel
that you have heard me preach, the doctrines of the gospel,
you hold fast to them. Don't take the edge off from
them. Don't take the edge off. When we come across the doctrine
of election, preach it loud and clear. Particular redemption,
preach it loud and clear. Don't back up. Because that's
the message that God blesses because it's his message. It's
his doctrine. So don't you back up. And Paul,
Paul said, he's a pattern. He said, the form, the pattern
I've set before you. Timothy preached the unsearchable
riches of Christ. You know, we cannot exhaust the
preaching of Christ. Can't do it. You know, when I
get into study, and I study, I don't get tired of studying
Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. You know, we get into God's word, we dig into God's
word, and we look for Christ, the pearl of great price. And we don't preach anything
else. We just, everything we do preach, we preach from Him,
as it relates to Him, as it comes from Him. And we are to do this,
now listen, we are to do this, this preaching of the gospel,
this holding fast the form, the pattern of sound words, the gospels,
sound doctrine, doctrines that you can go to the scriptures
with and soundly preach it, prove it, if I can use that word. But he says, do so, listen, do
so in faith. You know, I'm not skeptical about
preaching that God chose a people. I'm not skeptical about that
at all. I am dead certain God did that. I am absolutely certain
God chose a people before the foundation of the world. And
these people are sinners. They're sinners. They're ungodly.
They're ungodly. And Christ came into this world
to die for them. Christ came into the world, it says, to save
sinners. But here's how we preach it,
in faith, in love. In faith, first, believing God,
believing with all my heart that this is the truth, but to do
so in love, to preach in love. Don't preach in a manner that's
hateful, hateful. Don't preach that God's gonna
send sinners. God's gonna send the unbelieving
to hell with a gleam in your eye. And some people, you're like,
I'll be glad to see him go to hell. That could be me and you. You know that? That could be
me or you. God could leave me alone. God
can easily leave me alone and uh let me meet his justice and
it'll be to the praise and glory of his justice if it's not to
the praise and glory of his grace one of the other it's one of
the other and then paul says this verse 14 that good thing
that excellent thing the gospel and the doctrines of the gospel
christ which is christ that good thing which was committed to
the unto the keep That gospel, that excellent gospel, as Paul
calls it, Philippians, excellent knowledge of Christ. He says,
you keep that. That was committed to your trust,
Timothy. You guard it. You know, we have the gospel
here. I'm convinced of that as I am that God is. We have the
gospel here. And it's been committed to my
trust. It's been committed to our trust. And we guard it. And he says, keep it, guard it.
Now listen, we can't do this by ourselves. We can't do this
by ourselves. We can't even keep ourselves
by ourselves. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. I'm not keeping myself, God's
keeping me, but he's keeping me believing. He keeps me through
believing. But here, he says, you keep this
which was committed to you, And you keep it, listen, by the Holy
Ghost, which dwells in us. We keep it by His strength, by
His power, by His Spirit. We can't do it alone, but relying
upon Him, we can. We can guard and keep it with
the greatest care, that excellent gospel that was given to you,
entrusted to you. is given to you as a faithful
steward and be a faithful steward in keeping it. The gospel is
a treasure. This is the gospel of God's glory. There is nothing else that I
know of, even through reading the word of God, there's nothing
else, nothing else that glorifies God like the gospel. Creation
itself pales in comparison to Christ and Him crucified. Creation
pales in comparison to that new creation, which is of God, which
Paul says was created in righteousness and true holiness, which is that
new man, that new man in Christ. That's the marvelous creation. That's the glorious, that's the
creation of God's glory. That's his real glory, his redemptive
glory. And you keep it, now listen,
you keep it, you keep it pure, and you keep it free from traditions. Don't let, you know how we, we're
traditionalists. By nature we are. We just, this
is the way we've always done it. Well, if it's been wrong,
you might wanna stop. if that's the way you've always
done it, and that was wrong. But don't mix anything with it. Just
leave it alone. Gospel can stand on its own.
It doesn't need anything mixed with it. It's like that lady,
that waitress, ordered a steak. I told you this, but I ordered
a steak. And she came, she said, do you
want any A1 sauce? I said, not if it's any good.
I don't need it if it's good. You gotta sauce it up if it's
not any good. You gotta disguise that bad taste. Gospel doesn't
need sauced up. It's the gospel of God's glory.
It's the gospel of our salvation. It's the gospel of God's grace.
We don't need to sauce it up with anything else. Just leave
it alone. It tastes great just like it is. So Paul, and Paul knew this,
Paul knew here's something he knew he knew that some were going
to leave. He said this thou knowest in verse 15 this thou knowest
Timothy you're very aware of this Timothy that all That's
sad that all they which are in Asia are have turned away from
me." They were with him for a little while. Demas has forsaken me,
having loved this present world. Demas was with him at one time.
You know, in one of Paul's epistles, he recommends Demas. He recommends
him. And then in another one, he says,
he's left me. He's forsaken me. having loved this present world. Demas didn't see that. Paul saw
it. I bet you Demas was still religious.
I bet he still went to the service on Sunday. I bet he didn't quit
being religious, but he left Paul. He left Paul, he left the
gospel because his great interest was in the world. We're gonna
see something of that in the next message. Labor not for the
meat that perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting
life. Give your life, lay out your
life to this. But I'll get to that in a little
bit. But he says here that all have left me, they've turned
away from me, of whom are Phagellus and Hermogenes. Evidently, they
were ministers at one time of the word, and then they left.
They left. No doubts, it may be one of two
reasons here. One is persecution. They had
to tone it down. They'd tone it down so they wouldn't
be persecuted so much and their family wouldn't suffer so much. But it's probably this. It was
more lucrative. To preach another gospel. It
was far more lucrative. To preach to itching ears. Because
the truth is hard on this flesh. The word of God has nothing good
to say about human nature. You won't find it anywhere in
the word of God. And if he would absolutely pull
his hand back and let us see it, which I think we're getting
a pretty good glimpse of it. In this world now. But I know
if God has saved you, you have a real good glimpse of it in
yourself. That's what the best glimpse of human nature is, is
what I am. Oh, wretched man that I am. That's
what I am. But he says, he mentions these
two men that have left him. And I pray God, by his grace,
don't let us leave. Don't let us, keep me Lord, keep
me here. Don't let us leave. And then
in closing here, verse 16 and 17, he mentions, he mentions
this, this man named Onesiphorus. Onesiphorus was a brother born for adversity. He was born for Paul. Paul was
for him and he was for Paul. He said, the Lord give mercy. And this, this, uh, This shows Paul's heart. This
shows his heart. I want you to listen to this.
The Lord give mercy unto the house, not just to Onesiphorus,
who made his journey to Paul and visit him there in prison
at that last time, right there when all this persecution going
on. All of it. The Lord give mercy
unto the house of Onesiphorus. where he oft refreshed me and
was not ashamed of my chain, my imprisonment. He wasn't ashamed
to say, I'm here to visit Paul today. I want to see Paul. He wasn't ashamed of my chain.
He wasn't ashamed of me being in prison. But when he was in Rome, he sought
me out very diligently. He sought me out, and he found
me. by the grace of God and encouraged
Paul. He encouraged Paul. I'm trying
to think of that scripture over in James. Let's turn over there
and see if I can find it. You know the one good thing about
using the same Bible all the time? I know what page it's on
and I know if it's on the right or the left or the bottom or
the top. So this is in James chapter one. In verse 27. Pure religion. And undefiled
before God and the father is this. To visit the fatherless
and widows and their affliction and to keep himself unspotted
from the world. Pure religion, a true religion,
is to put yourself out, set yourself aside, and visit the afflicted.
Those that are sick and afflicted. He said, the father listened
to widows, and here Onesiphorus is proving, is proven by his
conduct. As I said, faith and conduct
go together. He looks Paul up. He sought him out. Diligent Paul
said diligently he would go from place to place. Do you know the
Apostle Paul? Have you seen the Apostle Paul?
Do you know where he's at? And he went through that town
He wasn't afraid To associate himself with the Apostle Paul.
He wasn't afraid of persecution He sought him out diligently
But you know so often I've seen this over the years. So often
the Lord will take and bless. He no longer blesses the servant
in the house, those who serve him. He blesses the whole house.
Generations have been blessed. Family members have been blessed
throughout because the Lord's mercy has been on that house.
It's been on that house. The love of Christ for a faithful
believer, Henry wrote this, he said, the love of Christ for
a faithful believer is so great that it diffuses itself over
all who are connected with him. All who are connected with him. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. of the gospel
because I know whom I have believed. He didn't say I know what, I
know whom. I know the one I believe. And
I'm convinced, I am absolutely convinced and persuaded that
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. If God ever persuades me and you of that, we will come
to Christ and we'll commit everything to Christ and we'll rest in him
and we'll look for his return, if you know him. All right.