Turn with me this morning, if
you would, to the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy and the first chapter. Our Lord knew that no matter the date, the hour,
the year, that in this world His people
would face the same things. I know we get the feeling sometimes
like we live in the worst time. In one sense we do, but man is
always the same, and sin is always the same. And the Apostle here in this
letter to Timothy gives him instruction and encouragement that in light of what takes place
in this world, God's purpose is the same. As the events of this week have
demonstrated, there are many things to make us fear. And sometimes I think that governments,
along with the media, They use these things to make us feel
the danger of them and therefore our great need of them. But God's people are not to live
in the bondage of slavish fear. Not only are these people not
to bring that fear upon them, Neither are preachers to use
these things, or to use the law, or threats of punishment on any
of God's elect. If you look down here in verse
7 of this first chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul tells Timothy just exactly
that. He says, for God hath not given
us the spirit of fear. Do you see that? All these people
trying to use these things to scare people out of hell or scare
them into heaven, that is absolutely wrong. He says to his people,
God has not given us the spirit of fear, but rather of power, and of love,
and of a sound mind. And no doubt, Timothy, with things
going on in your day, just like they are going on in our day,
It will put pressure on you to preach about those things and
those difficulties rather than to preach the gospel that you
are to preach. To preach the one true thing
that is the comfort of God's people. Verse 8, he says, Be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." We
are to preach and we are to bear witness in every age and every
generation and every circumstance the testimony of our Lord. He says, "'Nor be not ashamed
of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God." Everything works, as
Job prayed, according to the purpose of God, who has 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 brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Now, everywhere you read in this
book where it speaks of the affairs of this world, and most especially
the salvation of God's elect, it is always connected to this
word, purpose. Everything in earth heaven and
hell works according to the purpose of God. And the word purpose
in our text this morning means something like a setting forth. As a matter of fact, it is the
word that is akin to the word prosthesis from which we get
our word prosthesis which has to do with an artificial limb
or extension. So what is being said here and
everywhere in this book is the fact that the arm of the Lord
is not shortened. But the arm of the Lord, God's
purpose, is simply an extension of Himself, of His will, and
of everything He desires, whatever it is, it comes out from God. It is the extension of the mind
of God and the will of God and the purpose of God, of God Himself. Job writes so clearly, he is
in one mind and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth,
even that he doeth. For he performs the thing that
is appointed for me, and many such things are with him." Everything
is with and from and of God. You see, God does not simply
have a plan. Men are so willing to admit that
God has a plan. But what they say is that men
are able to thwart that plan, or either that God has left it
up to men, which are His enemies by nature. He has this wonderful
plan. but He has turned it over to
man to either make it a success or a failure, to turn it to good
or to evil. But that is not what the Bible
says. The word here in Scripture is
not plan, but it is purpose. God Almighty has a purpose, and
He carries out every detail of his purpose to accomplish that
which he desires. And those who even say sometimes
when things happen that God has a purpose in it, they cannot
see in any way, it seems, how that he will with this purpose
glorify himself in it. He says it over and over again. The LORD of hosts hath sworn,
saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and
as I have purposed, so shall it stand." If that wasn't enough,
in Isaiah again, this is the purpose that is purposed upon
the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out
upon all the nations. And whatever it takes, whoever
it takes, and wherever they are, God will bring them and use them
and do with them as He will to accomplish His purpose. He says
again, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed
my counsel from a far country, yea, I have spoken it, I also
will bring it to pass, I have purposed it, and I will also
do it. I have spoken it, I have purposed
it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it." Now,
how much more clear could that ever be? And he does not leave
us to wonder at the scope of that purpose. Hold your place
here and turn back to Ephesians, the first chapter, and look down
in Ephesians chapter 1 at verse 9. I am amazed again and again at
how just one verse or two verses of Scripture can say more about
what God reveals and declares to us than a million books written
on them. Ephesians 1 and verse 9, having
made known unto us the mystery of His will according to his
good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself." He does not depend
on anyone else. His purpose is bound up in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him. in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. Number one, throw free will out
the window. discard man's will as absolutely
and totally inferior to and under the control of God's will. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. And he is the author of his purpose,
and it is his purpose alone, and we are only happy truly happy
when we are bound up in and submitted to and rejoicing in the purpose
of God which is so much higher than our foolish and imagined
purpose. The thing he says here is this,
contrary to what men say. They say you cannot know the
will of God. They say you cannot know the
purpose of God. But what he says here himself
in verse 9 is this, having made known unto us. He's not keeping
his purpose secret. He's not keeping his will secret. But he says in verse 9, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, and he did so, Paul
says, to a particular people. Who's that? Us. He says, God
has made manifest. God has revealed unto His people. He has revealed to those that
He loved and chose in Christ and gave to Christ. He has manifested
to them, or will before they depart this world, He has manifested
to them His will and His purpose. Is that right? Well, hold there,
if you can keep all your fingers going there, and turn back over
to 1 Corinthians and the 2nd chapter. 1 Corinthians and chapter
2, and look down in verse 9. Verse 9 says, but as it is written,
I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him." Now, men walk around and quote that verse by itself
out of its context and say, well, you just can't know the will
of God. You just can't know the purpose of God. The truth of
the matter is, the reason men can't know it, they say, or or
can't understand the will or purpose of God is because we
don't want to by nature. So they quote that verse by itself
and deny the very truth of what this text says in verse 10. But, God hath revealed them unto
us. You see that? There's that us
again. And the thing is that each and
every one of these letters that Paul and these other apostles
wrote, which are given to us by the Spirit of God, each and
every one of them and everything else in this book is written
to God's elect, to his beloved people. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. That's the only way any one of
us ever know anything about the will and purpose of God, because
it is required that He reveal His work, His purpose, His will
to us through the operation of the Spirit of grace to enable
us to see it and understand it. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God." Now,
what are we going to know? What are we going to find out?
What is this will of God that is going to be revealed to us?
What is this mystery that has been hid throughout the ages?
What is the purpose of God for us? He says in verse 12, that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Do you see that? Here we have
a world full of preachers that are trying to tell everybody
what to do and how to live and what not to do, and again and
again and again. It goes on ad nauseum. But he says, when the Spirit
of God reveals the mystery, the will, the purpose of God to his
child, it is that that child might know the things, might
find out the things that are freely given unto them of God. He doesn't tell us how to be
saved. He doesn't tell us what to do.
The gospel has to do with telling us what He has done. You see that? Absolutely, what
He has done. Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, but the
natural man. receives not the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned." He says, in light of the events
of this week, what we need to be doing is telling somebody
how to live, telling them not to be evil, telling them not
to do this or that and the other. And he views the gospel as totally
unnecessary and totally irrelevant in a time such as the one in
which we live, when the gospel is the only thing that will ever
change anybody or give anybody peace. or bless anybody, or stir
in anybody love by the Spirit of God, it just absolutely is
essential. Because the natural eye hath
not seen, and the natural ear hath not heard, and men and women
only find out the will and purpose of God in Christ Jesus through
the gospel. And what we find, if you look
back here again in Ephesians 1, you find also, he says, that
this will, that this purpose is this purpose which he says
is in Christ. Now, if a man is talking about
the purpose of God, he is not talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, he is, well, And if he's talking about somebody
named Jesus, somebody named Jesus Christ, and he's not talking
about the purpose and will of God in His grace, he's way off,
because they're inseparable. Inseparable. I tell you, I can remember so
well when I first began to hear something about purpose, and
something about grace, and something about the doctrines of grace,
and things that were at the time expressed to me as being Calvinism
or something like that, and all the other labels that men put
upon it. And then I heard a man preach, and he preached the same
doctrines, but they were those doctrines as they are and necessarily
must be in Jesus Christ. God's purpose. And that's what
this text in 2 Timothy is about. God's own purpose and grace,
he says, is in Jesus Christ. You go back and you read verse
10 and verse 11. He says that in the dispensation
of the fullness of time, He might gather together in one all things
in Christ, heaven and earth. even in Him, in whom also we've
obtained an inheritance." Now, one reason why I love the
Word of God is because there's no might, maybe so, hope so's
in it. He says that this purpose of grace in Christ, we've already
obtained this inheritance. There's nobody going to steal
this away. There's no way we're ever going to lose it. There's
no way any situation in this world, any event in this world,
even if somebody walks into a building where we are and blows our brains
out, it won't change this because we've already obtained it. You
say, well, how did we obtain it? He obtained it for us in
Christ. The whole shooting match. Everything,
all spiritual blessings, as it says here in verse 3 of Ephesians,
everything. It includes everything. It is
an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven. I don't believe any gunman is
going to sneak into heaven and take anything. or do anything
or any harm, and he says it's an eternal purpose, according
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord, and it includes all things, everything, every blessing, every
need, every event in this world, everything, because he works
all things after his own purpose. And we know by virtue of what
he says that he is working that in his grace for our good and
his glory. And it includes even the wickedness
of man. That's an awful thing when a
man walks in and kills 30 some people. That's bad. But how many
do you reckon Pharaoh killed? How many do you suppose that
Pharaoh, in his power, in all his authority in his day, how
many do you suppose Pharaoh killed? Thirty-two wouldn't even begin
to start what he killed probably one day. If he didn't like somebody,
he just had them beheaded. If he didn't like somebody, or
if he sent out his men, just conquer a kingdom because he
wanted it. And yet, Paul writes in Romans 9, he says, for the
Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, God says this to Pharaoh, and
He says it to us of Pharaoh. Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. God's purpose. If a king rises
to power, God's purpose, He raised him up. If He brings him down,
God's purpose, He brought him down. If it rains today, if we
have a drought, whatever it is, He in His sovereignty works everything
according to the counsel of His own will. And we are simply butting
our heads against a rock until we find that out and bow to it. That's the scope of God's purpose.
But now let me tell you the glory of it. The glory of it is this,
and all you have to do is turn back to Romans 8 and look at
one of the most familiar and often quoted verses, which does
not apply to every person in this world, but applies to the
us. Romans 8 and verse 28. And we know. That's that same
we and us. Paul's talking about God's people
who have been born of His Spirit, who have been taught of God,
who have heard and been brought to believe the gospel. He says,
and we know. Now, that doesn't mean we know
it all because there's a whole lot we don't know. And like Brother
Richardson said, there's a whole lot that's not worth knowing.
But we know. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. They are described in this book
in a multitude of ways, but they are described here as the called
according to His purpose. And my friend, that's just about
as good as it gets. The called according to His purpose. You can talk about your will
all you want to. You can talk about all these
things that you've done and intend to do and your liberty and all
that. I want to be amongst that number.
The called according to His purpose. Now, look back at our text, if
you would. When Paul writes to Timothy here
in this few verses, two verses I'll say, he writes a book by
the Spirit of God. Number one, he shows us here
that our love does not cause or add to God's purpose. It's His love. It's His love. We love Him because He first
loved us. When He says, all things work
together for good to them that love God, don't you think for
one minute that He's saying that our love for Him is the reason
why all these things work together for good for us? No, no. No. He's saying that We love
Him, just as He says actually in Scripture, we love Him because
He first loved us, and this is one of the things that has worked
for our good. John writes and he says, herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us. and sent
his Son, the propitiation for our sins." You see, these he
speaks of are the call according to his purpose. Look down in
verse 9 again of 2 Timothy 1. God who has 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." What is the gospel? Now, I don't know how many different
sermons and books and all have been written in which they all
could be summed up in these two verses. The gospel is about God's purpose
and, first of all, Himself. Verse 8 ends with God and a colon. which means something about God
and what He's done is about to follow. That being the case,
the gospel is the good news about something He has done. And when I say He, I'm talking
about God in this trinity of His three sacred persons. It's about something that God
the Father It's about something that God the Son does. It's about
something that God the Holy Spirit does. All of which, the sum of
it, is one work, one salvation, and one God. He did it. It's about something
He has done. And the Apostle writes here and
he says, He saved us. He saved us. He alone is the Savior. And He describes Himself in Isaiah
as a just God and a Savior. So whatever he does and whatever
he has done in saving us, he did it in a just way because
he must be just in order for him to be our justifier. He must
be righteous as he makes and declares us righteous. And he did it all by himself.
The gospel is about something that God has done all by Himself. He's done it all alone, and He's
done it for His glory alone. And Paul says here, He saved
us. And that makes the so-called
plan of salvation utterly ridiculous. I'm not come to give you a plan
of salvation or a Roman road to walk or three easy steps to
be saved or all these other things. I'm come to tell somebody that
God saved them. And the fact that men know nothing
about this is how we get such foolish things as so-and-so got
saved last night. Or, why don't you come to the
revival? You might be saved. God might save you. If you let
God save you, He'd save you. No. He says here, He saved us. He saved us past tense. He saved
us in eternity past when He put us in Christ as our surety. He saved us when Christ hung
on that cross and bled and died. He saves us when He calls us
unto Himself. But it's always Him. It's always
Him. And if you notice here, it says
here, He saved us before He called us. Well, wait a minute, preacher.
Let's get this. This is the right way. He has saved us and called
us. He saved us before He ever gives
us knowledge of it. That's what we find out. That
God saved us. Will I hold out if God saves
me? Is there any need to believe
in somebody called eternal security? That depends on who saves you.
If God saves me, I'm saved. If the triune Godhead entered
into this work of salvation on my behalf, I may fail and fall
a million times. Probably will. He won't ever
do it once. He saved us. I can't. In Hebrews it says, in being
made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all
that obey Him. I passed a church sign in Swansboro
several times over the last few weeks, and they've had that verse
there. And I know exactly what they believe and preach there.
They believe and preach that if you obey Him, you'll have
eternal salvation. But that is exactly the opposite
of what that is declaring. That is declaring that He is
the author, the finisher of this eternal salvation, and it will
be manifest that He saved everyone that obeys Him, which is to believe
on Him. He didn't try to do it. He didn't
make it possible. He saved us. Do you understand
that? Can you believe that? If you
can believe that, He saved you. He saved us from our sin. He
saved us from Satan. He saved us from this present
evil world. He saved us from the wrath to
come. He saved us from ourselves. He keeps still saving me from
myself. And if He saved us, we're saved,
eternally saved, and therefore eternally saved. He saved us.
Then He says this, and He called us. Now, I know that men and women
say they have their differences about the gospel going out as
a general call, but all it does to those who don't believe it
is make them more responsible. The calling he's talking about
here is an effectual, mighty, holy calling. Somebody said, is the gospel
an invitation? Well, it just depends on who
issues the invitation. If King Jesus does, He says, come, Lazarus. Did he come? Come, Matthew. He'll never leave that money
racket he's got going over there collecting. He came, didn't he? I would never stand and try to
preach the gospel again if it was not for what God does in
calling His people. He calls them mightily by His
Spirit, gives them faith, enables them to believe, quickens them
to spiritual life. And in the day of His power,
they do exactly the opposite of what they would ever want
to do, would ever think they'd do, or would ever be able to
do. They would believe the gospel. They'd believe it. He called
us. He issues this life-giving call
through the gospel. That's what Paul says to the
Thessalonians. He said others followed their
own hearts, their own minds. Others did not love the truth
and they bowed to error and believed it and loved it and died in their
sins. But he said, but we're bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a room full of people.
And the Gospel goes out. The Gospels preached by such
poor preachers myself. And yet it is the Word of God,
the words of God. It's the declaration of what
God in His purpose and grace has done for His people. And
here are all these people, and some believe as it says in Acts,
and some believe not. What's the difference? It's not
in them. It's in Him who calls that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. That's it. And I don't know how much more
plainer it could be declared than this. He says, not according
to our words. Now, he didn't say that means
that God's people do everything and they have no attachments
to Him. They live in a loose manner,
as they say, and do all that. That's not what he said. But
he said this salvation, God's purpose of grace in His people
to save is not according to our works. I don't care what anybody
says. Salvation, it has been rightly
said, by the grace of God, has a lot to do and brings a
great bearing on what we do, but it has no part. Our doing
is no part of the basis upon which God saves us, justifies
us, and keeps us, and blesses us. Not at all. Not according
to our works. Not according to our merit, or
our own imagined righteousness, or our feelings, or our experiences,
or our baptisms, or our profession, or our will. Not any of these. Not according to their works. Nobody has ever worked their
way into heaven. No one has ever been good enough.
No one has ever done enough to gain the favor of God. Not according
to their works. But, but, verse 9, according
to his own purpose. You can take free will, I'll
take God's will. The will of God. This is the
will of God in Christ concerning me. That's the best thing that
can be. He works all things according
to His own will. His own purpose and pleasure,
He said, will stand. And the glorious thing of it
is to us, as His people is, it's His own purpose. And His purpose
is a purpose of grace to us. according to his own purpose
and grace." Somebody said, you just can't tell people that. Well, a man can take a knife.
One of the worst sights I ever saw was in the police station
years ago. I mean years ago. And that photograph was from
a long time before that. But where a man, a marine in
the New River Apartments when they were new, he just went berserk
and he took a knife and he killed his family and he cut his own
throat, ran out of the house, cutting his own throat, stabbing
his own self. What do you do about that? Take
up all the knives? No, many a time I've sat down
with a knife. and enjoyed a nice steak or something
and cut it up. You see, this is food for God's
elect. This is for God's people. You
say, I'll have none of it. You identified yourself. It's a purpose of grace. God's
purpose to me, sinner like I am, is a purpose of grace, which
means that He favors not based on my merit, and His grace is
in Christ, that He has justified us freely through that redemption
which is in Christ, and accepted us in the Beloved, and saved
us by His grace. Freely by His grace. I couldn't hardly even begin
to give you a good definition of grace. Be like me walking in and trying
to explain to you how electricity works to operate these lights,
and I couldn't even begin to do that. But I sure am glad I
was able to flip the switch and be able to read in this light
this morning. Grace is the grace of God. And it's the grace of
God which is in Christ Jesus. He says here in this verse, which
was His own purpose and grace, which was given us. Not offered to us. And it was given us in Christ. You see this? Before the world
began. That means there's no way I could
have deserved it. That means there was no way that
Satan could have thwarted it. That means that there's no way
I could have added anything to it. That means there's no way
I could have stopped it. That means there was no way I
could have refused it. It was given us in Christ before
the world began. And for that reason, God shall
have all the glory for it. Given us. Didn't have to work
for it. Couldn't have if I had wanted
to. given us grace in that way that honors God in all His holy
character as a just God and a Savior, that grace that Paul says reigns
in righteousness. Covenant grace before the world
began. Intentional grace. Deliberate
grace. God set His affection upon a
people in Christ and made Christ the surety for all their salvation. And before the world began, before
Moses ever was given the law, God purposed to save this people
among Jews and Gentiles in Christ. And that law that God gave was
only, He says, until Christ. and everything in it pictured
that salvation, that grace that reigns in righteousness. Every
sacrifice showed Christ and how by His death and His blood, God
could righteously show His grace to us. And then Paul says, but it is
now. God's purpose, God's grace, God's will, God's goodness, God's
mercy is now made manifest. That doesn't
mean it began then, but it's made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He has appeared once in the end
of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. That doesn't mean it was on me.
He saved us before the world began. But it was on Him, the
surety. And He put it away. He put it away through this one
sacrifice. He laid down His life for His
sheep, and He gives unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish. He brings them. He does the will
of the Father that sent Him in their behalf, and He abolished
death. If Christ abolished death by bearing the sting of death,
which was this matter of sin in His own body, then we don't
have to fear death. At its very worst, it will simply
be a door opening into eternal glory. He'll make that even a blessing
to us. He delivered us, those, he says,
who for fear of bondage, who were in this bondage, in that
they feared death all their lives. As their substitute, He paid
the penalty for their sins in His body, and in His death is life. Life. Look at that last part of verse
10. And He hath brought life and
immortality to life. Where can you find life? Where
can you see immortality, eternal life? Where is it brought to
light? In the gospel. That's why I want
to hear the gospel. Life's in Christ. He's the gospel. Life's in what He's done. That's
the gospel. Life's in God's purpose and grace.
That's the gospel. That's the only place there is
life. Paul 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. 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,
that's not what Paul says by himself. That's the confession,
the proclamation, the witness of all those God saves by grace. I'm persuaded. that He, it's
always about Him, He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day, the day of my death, the day of judgment,
the day, whatever day it is, because God saves His people.
by His own purpose and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we glorify Him. And therefore we can trust in
Him, and believe in Him, and rest in Him, and rejoice in Christ
Jesus. Our Father this day, we give
You thanks along with that blessed One who is your Son and thy Holy
Spirit. Lord, acknowledging you as the
one true and living God, and thanking you that you have
saved your people according to your own purpose and grace, not
their but your own purpose and grace which was given to them
in Christ before the world began. And the fact of that is so clearly
proven, made visible, and shown to be true in Christ's coming,
in His perfect life, and in His sacrificial death. And the fact of these things,
Lord, you made manifest and sent out to be preached to your people,
to comfort them and to give them hope and joy and peace and bring
their hearts to love you and praise you and serve you to your
glory. Made manifest and brought to
life through the true gospel. We pray that you'd bless your
word to the hearts of these that are here this day, and those
who might listen to the tape or the CD, wherever, on the Internet. Lord, we pray you'd cause your
word to go out to be received as good news to your people. We know your sheep will hear
your voice, and they'll follow you. They sometimes take crooked turns
and fall, but they will continue to follow you, come what may. And you will receive them under
your bosom, carry them as your lambs into the very presence
of the thrice holy God. We thank you and we praise you
in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you.