Well, we haven't abandoned Isaiah. I intend to keep coming back
to it, but this week we'll have a change. And I want to draw
your attention to 2 Timothy chapter 1, and particularly verse 12,
which is so well known. We've just been away, as most
of you know, for nearly two weeks, and we've been visiting family in
the north of England. And it's been, apart from the
beautiful scenery and the lovely weather that we've had, it's
been quite traumatic because of situations with relatives,
one sick and one in particular died on Thursday while we were
there, and all the family around them. And it's quite a traumatic,
it's a trying experience. You know, you feel that you know
the truth of the Gospel, but when you're surrounded by these
things, there are all sorts of challenges come upon you. The
best of us, the best of us, is at our very best still weak in
the flesh, very weak in the flesh. Personally, we may have strong
conviction concerning the truth of God. and the Gospel of Christ. We may have strong conviction
about these things, deep in our hearts, but situations arise
to challenge that conviction. Things around us, things that
people go through arise to challenge that conviction. As I've said,
relatives who get sick and die, close ones to us who get sick
and die, we're all on the threshold of eternity. All of us, if we're
being truthful and we know the situation, we're all on the threshold
of eternity. We move forward through this
life. Today for me, as you probably
noticed at the start, yet another year passes and how quickly they
seem to go. The older you get, the more years
you get under your belt. Every single one that comes along
seems to be a much shorter proportion of your entire life. And so,
We're on the verge of eternity, and compared with that is the
world's view of happiness today. The world has a view of how true
happiness is accomplished, and it's certainly without the true
God. Think of Psalm 2. Why do the
heathen rage and imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against
his anointed? The kings of the earth set themselves
and take counsel together against him. They say, let us break their
bonds asunder. Let us break, let us shake off
this yoke, this God yoke that stops us doing what we want.
Let's get rid of it, because the world finds happiness without
any of these things. But those of us who know the
true God, We know that God is true. You know it in your heart,
God is true. You know that eternity is real. You know that as death gets nearer,
you have a hope of eternal life. You know, as a believer, that
you trust this book, you trust this Bible. It's the truth of
God. You have that inner witness of the Spirit of God, because
Romans 8, 16 tells us, the Spirit of God assures his people that
we are the children of God. It confirms to us that we have
the life of God in my soul. But all that time the flesh is
so weak, and so bombarded all around, that there are doubts
arise, and we cry out with that man in the Scriptures who said,
Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief, because I'm weak in
the flesh. Now in this verse in 2nd Timothy,
chapter 1 and verse 12, Paul affirms the belief of the true
child of God. Look at his situation. You know,
you say, well it was all right for him, he was a great apostle,
so everything was going well with him. So it was absolutely
fine for him. But look in verse 11, look at
his situation. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher. and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles. That was his situation. He was
a teacher concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ, that faith that
he had as a Pharisee, sought to destroy and went out of his
way to destroy it. And then on the Damascus road,
God stopped him in his tracks and called him as a preacher
and an apostle and a teacher of the truth of the gospel of
grace. And what's the gospel about? The gospel is about the
righteousness of God. The gospel is about salvation
from sin, for God is just and cannot overlook sin. But look
where it got him. Look at Paul's situation. In
verse 12, for the witch cause, being an apostle, being a preacher,
being a teacher of the gospel, for this reason I suffer these
things. What things, Paul? Do you know
where he is when he wrote this? He's in Rome, in prison, in the
final two years of his life. Read the last verse of the Acts
of the Apostles. You will see where Paul is. He's
in prison in Rome. And where is he going? to trial
before Nero. You read about him in history?
I'm sure some of you have. He was a pretty evil man, was
Nero. He was a pretty brutal emperor. He had incredible power and sovereignty
over the lives of ordinary people. Paul knew that he was destined
to die. Paul knew that his being a preacher
and an apostle and a teacher had got him into this position
where he was destined to die because he knew that he would
get no sympathy and no mercy from Nero. And you might say,
what a mess. What a lost cause. Paul, what
a reason to give up. Why are you believing this stuff,
Paul? What a reason to give up. But he says, I am not ashamed. Nevertheless, although my faith,
although my calling, although my apostleship and my preaching
and my teaching has got me in prison and I know I'm going to
be condemned to death by Nero, nevertheless, I am not ashamed. What does he mean? He means,
I've got no regrets. He means, I am confident of eternal
vindication by Christ. Doesn't matter what Nero's court
judges regarding Paul, doesn't matter that Nero's court is almost
certainly going to condemn him to a brutal death, it doesn't
matter, because Paul knows that he is eternally vindicated by
Christ in the gospel. And where does he get his confidence?
This is the thing. You imagine it. You imagine the
little troubles that we come across and the trials and the
conflicts that we come across. It's nothing compared with what
he had at this situation as a prisoner in Rome destined to die. Where
does he get his confidence? It's in verse 12. Look, he says,
why are you not ashamed, Paul? This is the reason, 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. That's Paul's
testimony. That's what Paul testifies to,
and that is the testimony of all true believers. I want us
to consider his knowledge, Paul's knowledge, and his persuasion,
which is the knowledge and persuasion of all true believers. Think
about Paul's knowledge then. He says I'm not ashamed but what
would cause him to be ashamed? Here he is in prison for being
a preacher of the gospel and an apostle and a teacher to the
Gentiles and he's preaching the truth of God, the eternal God
who's created all things. What would cause him to be ashamed? This is the answer I think. we
might put it this way, to have backed a loser. Do you know what
I mean? You know, people go to the horse
races and they put bets on which horse is going to win, and it's
a bit of a shameful thing to have backed a loser. You put
a lot of money on a horse that ends up coming in last, and you're
ashamed of it. You don't want to brag about
it. You've backed a loser. What if, in Paul's case, he had
preached and taught the Gospel, and dedicated his life to it,
and gone through so much, only to have it prove false at the
end? What if he'd heeded God's call? It says in verse 9, he's saved
us and called us. He's heeded God's call. He could
do nothing else. On the road to Damascus, he could
do nothing else. And he's followed wherever God
led him. his fault, he could do nothing
else. He couldn't do anything else. God led him, and you know,
when he was doing his missionary journeys, and he wanted to carry
on in what is modern day Turkey, Asia Minor, and it says the Holy
Spirit forbade him, and closed the door, and wouldn't let him
go on, and opened a door for him to go into Greece, into Macedonia,
and that's how the gospel spread to the Corinthians, and the Athenians,
and all around the rest of the world, and to Rome, and so on.
He followed where God's Spirit led him. And he suffered greatly
for the Gospel, didn't he? He said, I've learned in all
situations therewith to be content, because at times he had plenty,
he said, I abounded, but at other times he was flogged, whipped,
beaten. He was put in prison in the stocks.
He was deprived of the necessities of life. He was shipwrecked two
or three times. He spent days just floating in
the deep until he was rescued. He suffered for the cause of
the gospel. You know, in many places, in
many places, he was beaten by the mob who didn't like what
he was saying. He reckoned, as he went through
all of this, that, as Romans 8.18 says, the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory. You see, his confidence is strong.
I'm not ashamed, I know I'm going to eternal glory. There's glory
that shall be revealed in us. He's given up this world's pleasures. What if he finds that there's
no eternal reward? All believers, to an extent,
give up some of this world's pleasures. What if we find that
there's no eternal reward? Answer, we're ashamed, we've
backed a loser. You know, as he says in 1 Corinthians
15 about if there's no resurrection, he says, if in this life only
we've done this, we're of all men most miserable. Like the
psalmist in Psalm 73 who says, look, I've been flogging myself
to death trying to be a servant of God and those around who don't
bother, what an easy time they seem to have. Everything seems
to go well with them and yet I just suffer all of these things.
I'm of all men most miserable. But you see, Paul is confident
that he's not going to be ashamed, that that is not the situation.
He suffered greatly because of his faith and because of his
preaching. Nevertheless, he is not ashamed. And not being ashamed
means that he's supremely confident. He's confident. Now what is the
basis of his confidence? I am not ashamed. Why are you
not ashamed, Paul? Answer? For I know whom I have
believed. He knows whom he has believed. He knows he has believed a person,
and he knows that person, and believes that person, and that
person is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God revealed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He knows whom he has believed. He doesn't say, I know what I
have believed. He doesn't say that. He says,
I know whom I have believed. You see, he doesn't know a body
of theology, though there was no better theologian ever than
the Apostle Paul. It's not a body of doctrine that
he knows. No, not at all. It's a person.
You see, it's not just that he knows about the Lord Jesus Christ,
but he actually knows the Lord Jesus Christ personally. And
it isn't just a superficial knowledge, because we read in James, the
devils know about Christ and believe. They know and they believe. You believe in God, he says,
you do well. The devils also know and believe, but they tremble.
That's what James says. There's a difference between
knowing about and actually knowing. If I can give an illustration,
and I don't know whether it helps, I hope it does. But just imagine
that to do with your work, you have to deal with a very complex
system. Now, it might be an incredibly
complex piece of machinery. I have a brother-in-law who is
expert in those machines that lay asphalt, tarmacadam on the
roads, and he knows how to get them adjusted and working so
that they lay a perfect, you know, when you're driving, you
know how much you hate, I don't know about you, but I hate it
when the road is unnecessarily bumpy, and don't you just love
those lovely smooth surfaces? Well, my brother-in-law, he's
so intimately acquainted with those machines, he knows them
inside out. He knows where to tweak them,
they almost talk back to him. It might be a software system.
It might be a big banking software system. And people do this for
their jobs, you know, their job is to keep that system running,
and keep it healthy, and keep it working, so that everybody's
fine about it. Now, you can understand the design
of the system, you can look at the drawings, you can understand
the concepts, you can know how it's meant to work, but it's
only when you run it day-to-day that you know it. You know what
I mean? It's only dealing with it day
to day. You know, like the old steam
engine drivers, and they knew how to tweak this engine to get
the best performance out of it. They knew it. They knew it. They
knew the things that would make it work best, and the things
not to do. They knew it. Well, in a way,
so with Christ. You see, it's not just knowing
about, or knowing the things of religion, it's knowing Him,
knowing Him intimately. You see, you might know the doctrine
of election. If you know anything of this
book, you know the doctrine of election, because it's on every
page of this book. It's from start to finish, it's
there. that God has chosen a multitude in Christ before the foundation
of the world, and that Christ came to save those people, for
His name was Jesus and He would save His people from their sins.
You might know the theory of the doctrine, but if I can't
see or feel myself as chosen in Christ, what does it benefit
me? You know in 1 Corinthians 13,
that chapter that's more often than not read at weddings that
have any sort of a religious flavor to them, and in that chapter
it's love is this and love is that, and you know, now remain
these things, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these
is love. That chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians. But in it, you know, Paul is
saying, I may do all sorts of things as I think for the cause
of Christ, but if I have not love, it profits me nothing,
it does me no good. What is it to have love? What
does he mean? I'm not just talking about some
kind of soppy sentimental feeling, he's talking about that love
which is in fact Christ. In Revelation 2, when Christ
writes that letter from his state of glory to the church of the
Ephesians, He says, you're great at doing all sorts of things.
You're very strong on your doctrine. You're very diligent in all sorts
of ways, but I've got one thing against you. What's that? You've
left your first love. If you've left your first love,
you've left the knowledge and the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That first love, that love that you must have, is that knowledge
of Him. And without that, it profits
me nothing regarding heaven. You see, the whole point of this,
the whole point of the Gospel, look at it in verse 1 of this
chapter. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
what's it all about? It's according to the promise
of life which is in Christ Jesus. Dying people. It's the promise
of life in Christ Jesus. This is what it's about. This
is true salvation. This is heaven secured for those
who by nature don't deserve heaven, but deserve condemnation. And
it is entirely based in a person, and that person is Christ. And
Christ is the God-man. He's God manifest in the flesh.
His God come down from glory, made for a little while lower
than the angels. Why? For the suffering of death.
Why? So that He might be the substitute
of His people. And in being their substitute,
in union with Him, He might die the death that the justice of
God demands for sin. He comes as the surety, the guarantor,
to accomplish salvation for the people of God. Let's go on. I may confess that I am a sinner
before God. I may do that. I may confess
that the justice of God, as I read it in His Word, condemns me to
separation from Him. I may know I need to be saved
from judgment. But if I don't intimately know
the only one who saves, I have no confidence. I have no confidence. I may have read the Bible, and
that's a good thing to do. Don't stop reading the Bible
if you read it, it's an excellent thing to do. I may have been
around Christian believers and learned to talk the language
of faith, which is very rare in these days, but I still may
not know Christ. whom Paul says, this is the basis
of my confidence. I know whom I have believed.
I know Christ. I know Him intimately. He's my
friend. He's my master. He said, I no
longer call you servants, but I call you friends. I tell you
all things that my Father has shown me. You see, it's not just
using the language that makes the difference, it's actually
knowing him. Spurgeon put it this way, he
said, a parrot may learn to call me daddy, but that doesn't make
the parrot my son. Without the Spirit of God, without
the Spirit of Christ, says Romans 8 verse 9, we are none of His. We must have His Spirit, we must
have Him, to know Him, I must know Christ. Listen to what Jesus
said at the start of that prayer before He went to the cross in
John 17 verse 3. He said, this is life eternal. What's life eternal? Are you
not interested in eternal life? I tell you, if you'd seen what
we saw on Thursday, and knowing now that he has passed from this
life, you'd be interested in eternal life. This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God. and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. That's who you must know. Oh,
you say, well, I know my church. No, sorry, no good. I know my
minister. I trust my minister. I remember
a lady that we knew very well, a lovely lady, very well-meaning
lady, but she said this in a state of some controversy. She said,
Well, I don't know what to think, but the one thing I do know is
that, and I won't use his name, my pastor is absolutely right
in everything. You see, she wasn't like the
noble Bereans. What did the noble Bereans do?
The noble Bereans heard Paul preach, And they went and checked
with the Scriptures. They tested the Scriptures. They
were more noble than the rest. They checked with the Scriptures
to see whether what Paul was preaching was true. Don't ever
anybody, please, I'm sure all the other preachers on Free Grace
Radio would echo this, don't ever please say, just because
we stand up here and do this sort of thing that you should
unquestioningly believe it. Check it against the Word of
God. Test it. Is it true? Is this what the
Word of God says? No. Don't put your faith in who
you know as a person, another human being. No priest, no minister,
no pope, doesn't matter, no archbishop or anybody else, makes no difference.
I must know Him. I must know Christ. I know whom
I have believed. How do I get this knowledge?
How does this knowledge come to me? Well you know it's delineated
in Romans 10 very clearly. You should look at it and you
should consider it. But this is what Romans 10 says
is the means by which this knowledge of whom comes to us. And the
Spirit of God applies that knowledge. It says that we hear a preacher
whom God has called. God calls preachers. God equips
preachers, true preachers. God gives them the words of the
good shepherd and the sheep hear the voice of the good shepherd
through the under-shepherd. That's another test. Are you
hearing the words of the Good Shepherd as they declare the
gospel of saving grace in the Lord Jesus Christ? And hearing? By the Holy Spirit coming and
giving life, they're given faith. Faith, spiritual sense, spiritual
sight, spiritual hearing, spiritual perception. They're given faith
that what they've heard declared, they believe it. That's right.
I'm convinced. I don't know everything, but
that's right. I believe it. And believing it, what do they
do? They call on the name of the Lord. I believe this is true.
You know when you come across some financial arrangement and
you believe everything about it is true. And you call upon
it, you commit yourself to it. It might be an insurance policy
or something like that. That's a silly example of what
we're talking about, which is the faith of God's elect. I believe
it, and believing I call on the name of the Lord. I call on whom? I call on the Lord who is creator. I call on the one who I know
has made all things. I call on the one who I know
spoke and it was done. Let there be light and there
was light. I call on this one who is holy. who is righteous,
who dwells in unapproachable light, who is on a higher plane
than us. His thoughts are not our thoughts,
our thoughts are not His thoughts, nor ways. He is the One who is
just, divinely just. He is the One alone who is true,
for Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
comes to the Father but by Me. He is God who is sovereign. God
is sovereign. God is not sitting on the sidelines
wringing his hands in weak frustration that he can do nothing about
the state of things. God is sovereign over all things. God is omnipotent. God is almighty. God is great. He is omnipotent. Omni, all. Potent, able to do. Powerful. He's able to do everything. And God is manifest, is made
known, is shown to us, where? In Jesus Christ, and in Him alone,
and nowhere else. No man comes to the Father, said
Christ, but by Me. And Christ is He who has accomplished
salvation. Hasn't left it open as an offer
that you can accept or refuse, like I might offer you a drink
and you might say, no, I don't want just now, thank you. No,
salvation isn't an offer. It's what Christ has accomplished
for his people. He has accomplished salvation
for his people. And believing in him is knowing
him. Believing in him is resting in
him, is trusting him, is leaning upon him, is knowing that he
is the one and only one that you need. that it might be well
with your soul in that day, against that day. He is the one who alone
can give you the assurance that you're saved. How does He do
it? Through the means of His Word. His Word. This is it. What more can He say than to
you He has said? How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.
Through the means of His Word, He speaks truth to our souls.
We hear Him speaking. His Spirit takes it and applies
the things of Christ to us. And thus, believing, calling,
believing, knowing we're saved, we come into what Romans 8.21
calls the glorious liberty of the sons of God. What is it to
know and experience the glorious liberty of the sons of God? And when it says sons, it means
male or female. It's not talking about the male
of the species. The glorious liberty of the sons
of God. Liberty, release, freedom from
condemnation. There is therefore, says Paul
in Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation. for them
that are in Christ Jesus. Come the day of judgment, that
day of which he speaks, against that day, that day of judgment
there is no condemnation for the people of God. It says in
Jeremiah 50 and verse 20, the sins of Judah and of Israel were
sought for, speaking of that day, and do you know what it
says? And they were not found. Why were they not found? For
He has blotted them out. As a cloud blots out, as the
ink is blotted out from the page, the sins are blotted out by what
Christ has done. And we have a confidence of eternal
life, a release from condemnation, and a confident hope of eternity. In John chapter 11 we read the
account of Lazarus and his two sisters, Lazarus and Mary and
Martha. And they were great friends of
Jesus and they'd often entertained him in their home. And it was
Mary who'd wiped the feet of Jesus with her tears, with her
hair. And Lazarus died. The brother died and there's
great sorrow. And Jesus comes to the tomb and meets Martha
there. And Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She said,
yes, Lord, I believe. Do you believe it? Do we believe
it? Do we believe this? Do we know that we're released
into the glorious liberty of the children of God, not fearing
condemnation, for it's appointed to man to die once, and then
the judgment? And oh, what a terrible thing
it is to fall into the hands of the living God, for our God
is a consuming fire. And yet, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
our God is our friend and our master. I call you no longer
servants, but I call you friends. So what about Paul's persuasion?
He says, I know whom I've believed, and I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. When you know someone well, you
know that of which they are capable. You know what they're able to
do. Knowing God in Christ, the believer knows what God is able
to do. And what is he able to do? He
says here, he is able to keep that which I've committed unto
him against that day. What have I as a believer committed
unto God? against that day of judgment.
I've committed the safekeeping of my sinful soul, for I know
my soul is sinful. I know that in myself I deserve
condemnation and separation from the living God, for God will
not accept anything into His heaven which defiles. No thing
of that nature can go in there. My sinful soul, which is safe
for eternity in Him in that judgment day. Now, let's ask the question,
what would it be that challenges God's ability to keep? You know, I'm persuaded, I'm
convinced that He is able to keep. What might challenge God's
ability to keep my sinful soul against that day of judgment?
Here are some things. Divine righteousness, God is
holy, I am sinful. How can a holy God who cannot
change and who must condemn sin and cannot have sin in his heaven,
in his kingdom, how can God, because of his divine righteousness,
keep my sinful soul safe in that day? And then what about my sin? Surely my sin, given the justice
and righteousness of God, my sin would challenge God's ability
to do that, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? There is none righteous,
no, not one. All have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. And there's the strict justice
of God, which you read about again and again. The soul that
sins, it shall die. In the day that you eat thereof,
said God to Adam in the Garden of Eden, in the day you eat thereof,
you shall surely die. And speaking of his heaven, he
says, nothing that defiles is coming in here. Oh no. Oh no. Thy kingdom come, but nothing
that defiles is coming in. And surely God might change,
but no, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Wouldn't
those things challenge God's ability to get a sinful soul
into heaven? And so with Job, here we go,
it must be two weeks since I last quoted this and I didn't preach
last week. Job 9 verse 2, how should a man be just with God?
How should a sinful man be declared just with God. Look at it with
me. Look at verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. But be
thou partaker, this is Paul writing to Timothy, be thou partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God,
God who has saved us, his people, and called us, his people, with
an holy calling. Oh, why did he do that? Because
we're good. No, not according to our works, because our works
are no good. Not according to our works. He
didn't call his people to salvation because they were good people.
Absolutely not. Why then? But according to his
own purpose and grace. Grace. Free grace. Sovereign
grace. Grace without any condition of
works, or merit, or qualification. When was it given us? Was it
because we lived good lives? No. Which was given us in Christ
Jesus, when? Before the world began. Before
God said, let there be light. Before the world began, that
salvation was accomplished. For Christ, we read in Revelation
13 verse 8, is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
in eternity. The deal is done in eternity.
Of course, in time, as time unfolds, Christ had to come in history,
when the fullness of the time was come, and save his people
from their sins. It was given us then, but is
now, now in time, made manifest, made clear. How? Because Christ
has come. He has appeared. Our Saviour
Jesus Christ has come. And in the process He has abolished
death. How has He abolished death? He's
taken away the sin of His people for which the soul that sins,
it shall die, it must die. And he's brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher
and a teacher and an apostle. This is gospel good news. This
is the gospel of substitution. This is the gospel where the
God-man comes as the substitute of that multitude, and does everything
in the justice of God that is required for them, and thereby,
they're able to be freed from their sins. He is the one who
has made satisfaction to the offended law. And so the hymn
writer writes this, So I am confident, I am persuaded
that He is able to keep me. How is He able to keep me? Because
He's still a just God who never changes, and yet in Christ, by
virtue of what Christ came to do as the substitute of His people,
and make propitiation on the cross, make atonement for the
sins of His people, purchase the redemption of the souls of
His people, He remains just, and yet He is the justifier of
sinners. He is indeed, as Isaiah says,
a just God and a Savior. And so, having accomplished salvation,
He has accomplished the end of it, which is the promise of life
which is in Christ Jesus. And so Jesus says in Matthew
25 verse 34, he says that when it comes to that day, that which
I've committed unto him against that day, his people, saved by
him, will hear these words, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now I ask you, do you have this
saving knowledge of Christ? Do you desire this saving knowledge
of Christ? Because those that have got it
will tell you it is such a blessing. What does the scripture say?
Come. Come unto me. Come to Christ. Not physically,
but by faith. Look into Him. Come. He says,
no man can come except my Father draw him. That's John 6, verse
44. No man can come unless God the
Father draws. But he says, and whoever comes,
I shall in no wise cast out. Take of the water of life. How
much does it cost? Where are you going to get the
money to pay? Take of the water of life freely. Revelation 22,
17. Commit your immortal soul to
His eternal safekeeping. 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. Do I understand all things? No. No. Does the things of the world
around me tempt me to doubt? Yes. Do I come across situations
where it's so difficult to give an answer to people who are going
through genuine suffering? Of course, of course. Is it hard? We don't know everything. Are
there questions of life and death that I struggle to answer in
the face of real pain? Not only mine, but the pain of
others that I see. As a believer in this flesh,
in this world, I am tempted to unbelief on all sides, just like
Job was. First book of the Bible written
probably, Job. He was tempted to unbelief when he was in that
state of suffering with all the boils and everything taken away
from him. And what did his wife say to him? Curse God and die. He said, though he slay me, yet
shall I praise him. In his suffering and in his persecution,
this was Job's testimony. Job 19, 25 and 26. What did Job
know? I know that my Redeemer liveth. and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. How could
he say that so confidently? I'll tell you how, exactly as
Paul did. 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. Amen.