All starts off in verse six, and that's where we'll begin. He says, in verse six, wherefore, for this reason, now he's talking about encouraging Timothy in the ministry, and telling Timothy to stand firm in the doctrine of Christ, and he says, for this reason, or wherefore, that's what it means, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." Stir up the gift of God.

Now, all of salvation is a free gift from God. Everything we have by way of salvation. by way of a right relationship with God, by way of the assurance of spending glory in eternity, in eternal glory with Christ. All of it is a gift that we did not earn and do not deserve. And so when I hear those words, the gift of God, I always think about that. Now that's not what Paul's specifically talking about here, though. He's talking about the specific gifts of ministry that God had used him to give to Timothy by the laying on of hands, which is an outward sign. It's an outward sign of the authority and the power of God. that he'd given to his apostles to bestow gifts on the ministry. And so Paul was assured that Timothy had these gifts of ministry.

And what were they? Well, they're the gift of preaching. Well, first of all, the gift of knowledge. Now, we know this understands the gift of God's grace. Timothy was a believer. There's no doubt about that. God does sometimes, in his sovereign will, and power use believers to do certain things to accomplish his will. One of the biggest examples of that is the false prophet Balaam. God accomplished his will towards the nation, Israel, through that false preacher Balaam. And then you remember when he spoke through the mouth of an ass, you know, things like that. But the ministry of the gospel, which is given to men to feed the people of God, is only given to believers.

Now, that's not to say that a false preacher cannot say the right things at certain times, but that's not a grace gift from God. God may use them to accomplish His purpose too. but overall, but it won't be for their good.

But now Timothy was a believer, so he had the gift of knowledge, knowledge of the gospel, knowledge of the scriptures. In fact, later on in chapter two, Paul tells him to tell the people, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So you have that.

But Timothy had the gifts of ministry. He had not only the gift of knowledge. See, everyone here who is saved, you have the gift of knowledge. You know Christ. And you know the doctrine of Christ. You may not be what people perceive as a theologian today or anything like that. And you may not be really adept in the scriptures, which you should read and study and try to understand the scriptures. That's one reason we have these worship services.

But you do know Christ. You know salvation. God has revealed to you yourself what you are by nature, what I am by nature, that we're nothing more than sinners saved by grace, kept by grace, and will be glorified by grace. So we all know that, but we all don't have the gift of preaching. The gift of communication, necessarily. I mean, we can communicate just talking to people, but I mean to stand before a group and deliver a message, which is what the preaching of the gospel is.

It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. The preaching is the uttered word. And the gifts of ministry, there have to be gifts of wisdom, the gifts of judgment, there's all kinds of things that come along with it. Saints back then had the gift of miracles. And that was before the word came together in the form that we have it today.

But Timothy had those gifts. And even those gifts are not earned or deserved by the people of God. And they're not given because of any natural talents. Just because a guy's a good talker doesn't make him a good preacher.

All right. In fact, the Lord may take somebody like Moses, who was, they say he stuttered, I don't know, but he had a problem. And the Lord gave him his brother Aaron to speak through him. But Moses spoke too. But that's a gift from God. So Paul reminds Timothy to stir up the gift. Now what does that mean? Well, I'm gonna read you what I wrote here. It means to engage himself in cultivating and promoting these gifts rather than giving up or being discouraged in the face of opposition. In other words, opposition ought to make us even bolder, not meaner now. When opposition comes, we don't want to get mean. You know, we don't want to roll up our sleeves and start fighting, but we want to get bolder in the truth, not weaker. And I've seen it happen, you know, people, you know, somebody tries to witness the gospel, somebody gets mad and says, oh, I shouldn't have said that. Oh, no, you should have said exactly what you said. Whether people love it or hate it. So we're to get bolder. And I put down here that it means to kindle them by encouraging a diligent use of them in the service of Christ.

Now we're gonna face opposition. That comes with the territory. And we're gonna face opposition no matter how pleasant we present it or how hard we present it. We should try to present it pleasantly. We don't want to fight with people and fuss with people, debate, but it's coming. And you know how much our Lord was love incarnate. He spoke with love toward His sheep. And He even spoke with compassion toward the non-elect. And they still hated Him. Somebody, you know, I remember years ago, a pastor said, you know, they said, let others see Jesus in me, that's that hymn. And he said he didn't sing that, he said because they didn't even see Jesus in Jesus. They hated him, without a cause.

And you remember in John chapter 15, we'll look, maybe look at that one here, or no, another one. But John 15, he said, marvel not if the world hates you, it hated me before it hated you.

The gospel is an offensive message because it exposes the works, the greatest and the best works and deeds of sinners that they're so proud of because they think it recommends them unto God. The gospel reveals that there's only one righteousness that God will accept for eternal life and glory. And that's the righteousness of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, imputed to us, charged to our account, and it has nothing to do, the ground of that salvation, that justification, the source of that sanctification has nothing to do with our so-called good works.

And it tells us that when we attempt to gain God's favor and God's blessings and salvation by our works, that those are evil deeds. And the reason the world hates them is because they're so proud of them.

You mean my works don't count for anything? Well, if you're talking about good works in the eyes of God, I'll tell you what they count for. They count for nothing toward your justification, your forgiveness. your righteousness. They will count for the glory of God because they're His work in us, Christ working through us by His power and His goodness. They're presented to Him under the blood of Jesus Christ as everything is that has to do with us sinful people.

You realize that the only reason that God accepts us and smiles on us and is good to us eternally and spiritually is because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Think about it.

Somebody says, well, and I heard this on a tape one time, a preacher saying that he didn't feel like he was fit to pray that day. because he had a fight with his wife. And I thought, man, if I have a fight with my wife, that's the first thing I'd do is pray. You know? We, at all times, now we may not feel like praying at all times, but at all times, we have a right to go to the throne of grace. And that means we go to God through Jesus Christ, our mediator, pleading the merits of his blood and righteousness, and praying, Lord, thy will be done. Change me, Lord. That's what we pray a lot of times.

So anyway, Paul, as he's encouraging Timothy, he's considering the opposition that Timothy, as well as all ministers of Christ, would face in their lifetime, in their ministry. And he's saying, Timothy, don't be discouraged to the point of quitting. We think about that and say, well, I just want to quit. No, don't do that. Stir up that gift, which is in a church. That's to the church, too. I know sometimes it's discouraging. We come in here and we just have a few people. And it gets discouraging, I know. But don't quit, because what we have is greater than anything that this earth can... We have the greatest message that's ever been put on this earth. And whether one or one million believe it, it's still true.

So he says, stir up that gift which is in thee, which God put in you. and it was indicated by the laying on of hands. That was the way that the apostles did it. So Paul was assured of his gifts and he reminds Timothy of them. Well look at verse seven. He says, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Now as you know very well in the Bible, fear is used in two different ways. There's a good fear and then there's a sinful fear. A good, I'm talking about when it comes to the ministry and our Christian lives and all of that. That good fear is that fear of God, which doesn't mean being afraid and terrorized. It means standing in awe with respect and regard for God. Fear to come into his presence. If you fear God, you would never approach God apart from Christ. And that's the kind of fear that men and women don't have by nature. Remember in Romans chapter three it says, there's no fear of God before their eyes. They worship idols, they worship themselves, they worship materials. They don't fear God, they don't believe God. The true fear of God is a gift of the Spirit that only believers have. that causes us to worship Him and to believe Him and to love Him and to believe in Him.

This fear, this good fear, is consistent with faith and assurance that we have in Christ. And I think about that 2 Corinthians 5 passage where it says, knowing the terror of the Lord, we do persuade men. What is that terror for a believer? Here it is. I would be, I would stand in terror to come before a holy and just God without Christ, without being washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness. Our God is a consuming fire to those who come before Him without Christ. So that's the good fear. But now what Paul's talking about here is the sinful fear, which causes a minister to either avoid or change his message because of the fear of what men can do to him. That's what he's talking about here. It refers to, I put here, it refers to a cowardly spirit, the fear of men, so as to be discouraged in or deterred from the ministry of the gospel and either deny openly or compromise the truth.

Turn over to John chapter 12. I'll show you a couple examples of this in the book of John. John chapter 12, and look at verse 42. Now as you know, when Christ in his earthly ministry, there were multitudes who followed him, many of them only for the miracles. because they wanted the bread and the fishes or they wanted to be healed, but not for any real faith in Christ as the Messiah, the righteousness of God. And look at verse 42, it says, nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him. Now we know now because of what follows that it was just a claim, it was not a real heart faith, God-given faith. Because it says, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Well if I'd say that, they'll throw me out of church. And look at verse 43, for they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. There's the problem. And that's the kind of fear that Paul is warning Timothy of it. Don't fear men, what can men do to me?

Well, look back at John chapter five. Now this is Christ standing before Pharisees. In verse 39, he says, search ye the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify me. And you will not come to me that you might have life. I receive not honor from men, In other words, they're not gonna come to him because he didn't receive the honor of men whom they loved and respected. But he says in verse 42, but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my father's name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? That's the issue. If you're in the ministry, what you call pastoring a church, if you're seeking honor that comes from men, you're not seeking honor that comes from God. Because the truth will expose the honor of men as being sinful. And that's what Christ was telling there.

We'll go back to 2 Timothy chapter one. Any spirit that considers the power of men, the honor of men, is not of Christ. What can men do to me? And I've heard people, well, a good friend of mine from the past, we were in seminary together. And he was pastor at a church over in Alabama. And the seminary we were in was not a gospel seminary. We both were lost then. I was talking to him on the phone years ago, and I was getting ready to preach a message at 13th Street Baptist Church. The pastor was gonna be gone. And he asked me, this was on a Saturday night, we were talking, he asked me, he said, what are you preaching on tomorrow? And I said, John 19, 30, it is finished. That was the title of my message. He said, well, tell me what your points are. And I went through and I told him what my points were. And I asked him, I said, could you preach something like that at your church? He said, yeah, I could preach it. He said, I wouldn't have a congregation when I was through. They'd all leave. When I really asked him this, I said, would that split your church? He says, no, it wouldn't split it. It'd wipe it out. But see, that's the thing about it. What I said was true. And at that time, he even agreed that it was true. But how many times have you heard people say, well, I believe in things like predestination or election, but I can't preach that. That's considering the honor of men.

Again, the gospel is, it's not just predestination and election that offends people, that does, I know. But it's the way God saves sinners that offends unbelievers. It's the offense of the cross that Christ, in the glory of His person, finished it and secured the salvation of all for whom He lived and died and arose again. And anything else is evil in the sight of God. It's offensive to God. And that was a precedence that was set back in Genesis, wasn't it?

Remember Cain brought the best that he could offer, the works of his hands, and God didn't accept it. What did Abel bring? The blood of the lamb, which pictured Christ. And the New Testament tells us that Abel knew that that was a picture. He knew that the animal blood wouldn't do it in and of itself, but it was a picture of the lamb of God, the seed of woman.

Well, look at verse seven again. God has not given us the spirit of fear. If that spirit of fear is in us, it's not of God, it's of the flesh, isn't it? And I admit now, I mean, you know, I have to fight that spirit of fear. We all do. But he said, here's what God's given us, the spirit of power. Power of God unto salvation. That's the gospel in the hands of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

You want power? You know, some of these charismatic churches, you know, they want power, don't they? But they think power is in feeling and emotion, activity. Power is in what we preach, if we preach the truth. There's power in the blood, we sing that. Power to save, power to forgive, power to make us righteous. There's the power.

I'm gonna mention this in the message at 11. If you want to know the presence of the spirit of power, the spirit of God, listen to what's preached from that pulpit. And if it's not the true gospel, whatever power's there, it's not of God. It may get them dancing, it may get them rolling in the floor, it may get them crying. It may get them down the aisle and into the baptistry. It may get them to the tithing bench, whatever, but it's not of God. And we can boldly say that.

So there's the spirit of power. Then he says the spirit of love. And that's godly love, which is always, if you're gonna discern godly love as contrasted with just mere human love, godly love is concerned first and foremost with the honor and the glory of God. We love God because he first loved us. Do we love him perfectly? No, but we do love him and that's a gift from God. No unregenerate, unborn again person has that love because it causes us to think of God's honor first.

And that godly love loves Christ as He's presented in the truth. It's love of the truth. You remember in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 when it talks about God sends strong deception that they might believe a lie. And who does He send that to? To everyone who receiveth not the love of the truth. I want to hear truth. I don't want to hear a lie. The lie may make me feel good. but I don't wanna hear it because it's just like taking dope. That's what it's like. Tell me the truth. That's what I love. And then this love of God loves the people of God, brethren, that causes us to stand with each other against the world and will not speak peace where there's no peace. And it's love for our neighbor in that we don't want to promote our neighbor in a false profession of religion. I don't wanna be like Satan and preach Satan's message. You know what the title of Satan's first message was? Thou shalt not surely die. When God said you shall surely die, I don't wanna promote somebody I love, a neighbor, even an enemy. in a false gospel. That's what love is all about. We want to see them come to Christ, don't we? So we tell them the truth, may make them mad, may walk away indifferent, and we pray for their souls. That's what we do.

And then a sound mind. That's a mind that's been enlightened by the Spirit to the truth of Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead. It's a mind full of right judgment, We know what sin is and we don't relegate it to just the immorality of the world even though we know that's sinful too. But anything as far as salvation and a right relationship with God that falls short of the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ is sin.

Now let me go to verse eight. I'm gonna start verse eight next week so I've got a lot written here about it and you can read it. But I'm gonna start with that next week because these verses that follow, they go together. But it says, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. Notice how Paul's in prison, he's literally in prison now for preaching the gospel, but he calls himself God's prisoner. Not Caesar's, but God's. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Don't be ashamed. You know, like I said, over in 2 Timothy 2.15, he says, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Paul said this, he said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. He knew that his boldness and unashamedness in the gospel was not natural to him, it was of God. And that's the same way with us. So as long as we look to Christ, as long as we live and walk in the power of His grace and strength, as long as we keep to the word of God, we have nothing to be ashamed of. Don't be ashamed. And we'll pick up there next week and I'll say more about that verse, okay.