2nd Timothy 1 11 Paul writes wherein to I am appointed
a preacher that word wherein to refers back to the previous
word the gospel the gospel wherein to I'm appointed a preacher of
that gospel and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles For
the witch calls, 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 Paul was appointed a preacher
of the gospel. He wasn't looking for it. He
wasn't in theological seminary when the Lord called him. He
didn't volunteer. He didn't sell himself. I've
heard someone say, yeah, I'm a preacher. I'm just looking
for somebody to preach to. You're a disaster looking for
a place to happen, if that's what you're doing. Look in the scriptures at the
way the Lord called his disciples and his apostles. They were going
about their business. They had no thought whatsoever
for that. Now these three names that Paul
uses to refer to himself here, preacher, apostle, and a teacher
of the Gentiles. Preacher of the gospel was what
Paul first and foremost was. A gospel that he preached to
anybody that would listen to him. He was beyond that an apostle,
which was gifted with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to heal,
to speak in foreign languages so that people that didn't know
how to speak Paul's language could still hear the gospel and
such things. Gifts that were given to promote
the gospel, not to, so that he could go around putting on magic
shows to promote the gospel. They were gifted especially and
appointed to preach directly by Christ himself. Paul said
I was as one born out of due time Christ had already died,
but Christ nevertheless himself Called Paul to preach And the Lord specifically tasked
Paul with going to the Gentiles with the gospel He was the apostle
to the Gentiles Romans 15 15 He wrote, nevertheless, brethren,
I have written them more boldly unto you in some sort as putting
you in mind because of the grace that is given to me of God that
I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering
the gospel of God. Now, in the beginning of verse
12, Paul testifies that it's because of the gospel that he
was suffering what he was. He was in prison at the time
And he had suffered many other things because of the gospel. And this is consistent with what
our Lord taught his disciples in Luke 21-12. Turn over there
with me please, Luke 21-12. He's sending his disciples out
into the world to preach, and he tells them about things that
must come to pass in chapter 21. But he says in verse 12,
before all these, before those things happen, they shall lay
their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and
rulers for my namesake. And it shall turn to you for
a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts,
not to meditate before what you shall answer, for I will give
you a mouth and wisdom. Boy, that's what a preacher needs
from the Lord, doesn't he? A mouth and wisdom. I don't need
a whole lot else, but I gotta have that from God if I'm gonna
preach. Which all your adversaries shall
not be able to gainsay nor resist. And that's how the gospel is.
You cannot intelligently refute it. If you refute the gospel,
you're a babbling, insane idiot. And you'll be manifest to be
so in the face of God's truth. And you shall be betrayed both
by parents and brethren and kinsfolk and friends and some of you shall
they cause to be put to death. And you shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. But there shall not a hair of
your head perish. In your patience possess ye your
souls. Now, none of that has changed. Nothing in that verse has changed.
You say, well, we're not killed for preaching the gospel anymore.
Some people are. Probably doesn't happen a whole
lot in this country right now. It has. And it does happen around
the world right now. Even folks that use the name
of Christ and may not even know him are killed in this world
for the namesake of Christ. Also, listen to Acts 9.13. Then Ananias answered the Lord,
This is when the Lord spoke to Ananias and told him to go and
meet with Paul, or as they knew him then, Saul of Tarsus. Ananias
said to the Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much
evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath
authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy
name. But the Lord said to Ananias,
go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name
before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for
I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's
sake. That may not be what Paul wanted
to hear, but that's what the Lord told him, you have to suffer
now. for my namesake, and he did, he was, at this very time. And always remember this now,
that though we do not suffer much persecution in our day in
this country, it's not because people hate the gospel any less.
It's not because people hate the Lord Jesus Christ any less.
He said, you shall be hated of all men for my namesake. Some
of you, they'll cause to be put to death, but all of you are
gonna be hated. And we are, no question about
it. The more people that don't know
about the Lord, know about me, the more they hate me. If they
don't even, they've never heard me preach, they may not. But
if they have, they don't like it. and some of them have made
that real clear to me. We don't suffer a whole lot,
and I'm not saying that we do. We're not to whine about it,
even if we did. But just acknowledge that just as often Christ and
his disciples avoided suffering because the leaders that would
persecute them feared the people, the Lord used that to protect
his people from persecution at times. And we in our day avoid
suffering because God has arranged it so that we live in a country
where he's caused leaders to outlaw religious persecution
of all kinds. And we get in on that by God's
grace. Now what's important to remember
now, if we're to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, as our
Lord taught us, Is that people hate the Lord Jesus Christ right
now as much as they ever have And it's just as vital now That
we determine to not be ashamed of him in his gospel To never shy away from being
a witness for him when it's necessary when there's opportunity to be
because we don't want to say things that we know are unpopular
to people. When we get into baptistry and
confess our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is a pledge
of allegiance to the Lord Jesus, to his truth. And may we live
that and not just show it one time. But before all men all the time,
confess our Lord Jesus Christ boldly. Now Paul raises this issue of
not being ashamed in verse 12. He acknowledges that he's suffering
persecution because of the gospel, and raises the issue of not being
ashamed, having just exhorted Timothy regarding this in verse
8. He just spoke to him about it,
he just wrote about that. Be not, speaking to Timothy,
be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner. Don't be ashamed to associate
with the people of God. We're family, we're brothers,
brothers in arms in this spiritual warfare. We're not to be ashamed
of that. but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. So he just exhorted
Timothy regarding those same two things, suffering for the
sake of the gospel and not being ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ
nor his people. And may the Lord make all of
his preachers an example. Now he's saying to Timothy, I'm
suffering now. for the gospel of Christ. And
nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. And I pray all of the Lord's
preachers would be an example to his people in all things.
He'll have to make us that because we're subject to the same vanities
as everyone else. We're subject to the same cowardice
that Simon was and everybody else. But the issue of not being ashamed
of the Lord and his gospel is always a vital one, and it's
throughout the scripture. Matthew 10, let me get you to
turn over there, please. Matthew 10, 32. This is not a topic that we address
often, so I wanna spend a little time talking about this. Witnesses
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've all confessed Christ publicly. That's not a one-time thing.
Just like believing on Him is not a one-time thing. Confessing
Him before men is not just something you do on that day. Matthew 10, 32, whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before
my Father, which is in heaven. but whosoever shall deny me before
me in him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
How beautiful that the Lord has said in another place, he's not
ashamed to call us brethren, his brothers. He's not ashamed
to associate with wretches like us. And so he exhorts us here,
don't be ashamed of me. Confess me before men and I'll
confess you before my father which is in heaven It don't even
matter what men think what matters is what God thinks He said I'll
confess you before God But whosoever shall deny me verse 33 before
me and him will also deny before my father which is in heaven
think not That I'm come to send peace on earth Think about the
people quote both of those scripture I've heard people say oh if you
deny God before me and he'll deny you before his father And
I've also at other times in other places heard people say The Lord
didn't come to send peace on the earth, but a sword You know
somebody says something about world peace the Lord didn't come
to send peace, okay These are the same verse, these are the
same passage of scripture. You gotta understand this in
the context of it. It's not gonna be easy to confess
the Lord before men. It's not gonna result in peace
most of the time. For I am come to set a man, people
use this to say, well, there's wars and he's not talking about
that kind of peace, that's true. Come to set a man at variance
against his father. He's real specific about the
kind of peace that he's talking about not sending on this earth Have variance against his father
and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law And a man's foes shall be they of
his own household not just them, but he's saying even those that
ought to be You think would have a close relationship, that relationship
is often destroyed simply for Christ's sake. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me in that engagement in that
lack of peace. Don't cave, don't compromise
in order to have peace that doesn't matter. Peace with God is what
matters. All things being equal, I'd just
as soon be at peace with everybody. But all things not being equal,
if the gospel's at stake, if the Lord, if our allegiance to
Christ is at stake, you don't want to make me choose. That's
how it needs to be. You don't want to make me choose. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Boy, that's hitting
home, isn't it? Do people abandon the gospel?
over family issues. Oh my. I don't consider myself
to have a whole lot of life experience, but I've experienced, I've seen
that happen over and over again. The Lord said to that man, he
said, follow me. And that man said, well, my father,
as soon as I bury my father, my father's old and he needs
me. Let me bury my father and then
I'll come follow you. The Lord said, let the dead bury
their dead. That's harsh now, that's harsh. That's something
this world is not gonna understand. Have you ever had to choose?
I have. I've had to choose. The Lord will bring us now to
that place where we'll either appease and, you know, we don't
like burning bridges, do we? Sometimes you got to torch them. And he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth
his life shall lose it. And he that loseth his life for
my sake shall find it. Those are grave words now, grave
words. The issue then, in Paul and Timothy's
day and now, is who are we living for? Paul said, seeing he has died
for us, we ought to live for him. Not henceforth live unto
ourselves, but unto him who loved us and died for us. What is our
life? Is it just a period of years
in which we collect all the toys we can and have as much fun as
we can? Look, I like to have fun as much
as anybody. If anybody's going to the beach,
save a seat for me. But what is our life? What's
the point of it? Paul and the other disciples
opened themselves up to persecution and suffering, not because they
had a death wish or were addicted to drama. I know some people
that seem to love to suffer. Have you ever noticed that about
people? They're not happy when they're not suffering. I don't
get that. By the grace of God, I don't
get that. but they opened themselves up
to persecution. Listen to Acts 5.40. You remember,
it says in verse 40, to him they agreed, the man that told them,
look, if this gospel thing is of God, you don't wanna fight
against God. If it's not, it'll dwindle away
like has happened with many others. And to him they agreed, and when
they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded
them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus." It just
mentions in passing that they beat them. When they had called them
and beaten them, you know, they told them not to speak in the
name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed from the presence
of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in
every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. The same thing that just got
them a beating, they went and did it and didn't stop. May God give us a little courage If it causes a fuss in the family,
so be it. Don't be cruel and vindictive
about it. Don't be I know more than you
about it, but make it clear who you serve and that you wish to God they
did too. Do it with compassion. If there
has to be war, let it be with compassion. The Lord said, I
didn't come to send peace like that. Your enemies will be in
your own house. Boy, our prayer and our heart's
desire is that they will always be our enemies. That God would
make them friends. Acts 4.18, and they called them
and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name
of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and
said unto them, right in their face, whether it be right in
the sight of God to hearken unto you more than God, judge ye,
for we cannot but speak to things which we have seen and heard.
They welcomed persecution for the sake of the gospel. Why were they compelled to do
that, even at the prospect of it costing them their very lives?
I thought about this. Think about this. I was forced
to think about this, looking into the word of God. If preaching
every sermon I preach, each sermon that I preach, if that sermon
might cost me my life, I sure would want to make it good. Wouldn't
you? If this is the last one, if they
kill me for preaching this one right here, oh God, give me grace
to preach like I've never preached before. May I do that every time
I preach. But why couldn't they just shut
up? Why couldn't they just get along? Three simple reasons. And these reasons are expressed
by Paul in three places in scripture where he confessed his commitment
to the Lord and his gospel each time. The first one, Acts 20,
22 through 24. Let's look at it together. Acts
20, 22. And now Paul said, behold, I
go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there. save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. I know
it ain't gonna turn out good for me, not for the flesh, it's
not gonna be good. But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish
my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the
Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ gave me a ministry. to be a witness of Him. That's the first reason we can't
shut up. The gospel ministry is committed
by God to us as a sacred trust. First Timothy 1.11, according
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed
to my trust. And I thank Christ Jesus, our
Lord, who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry. That's reason number one right
there. Romans 115, so as much as in
me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome
also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Here's reason number two. For
it is the power of God. And notice in all these three
places, Paul is confessing his commitment to the gospel for
these three reasons. First, because God entrusted
this to me. This is a sacred trust that the
Lord had placed in me of all people, his worst enemy on this
earth, likely at that time. He committed that to me. I'm
not gonna quit. God helping me. In this one, it's the power of
God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. The story is that Martin Luther,
when God saved him, all the Lord did was reveal the meaning of
that one sentence to him, the just shall live by faith. And he stopped all the fleshly
foolish works that he was doing to try to please God and bowed
to Christ. The gospel of God's free grace
in Christ without works is a sinner's only hope of salvation. And it's
a good hope. How can we quit? How can we shut
up? The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ reveals that it is written, the just shall not live by their
works or by their decision or by their will. The just shall
live before God by faith in his son. The just believe that Christ
is their righteousness. Just means you're righteous before
God. The just believe that salvation
is not by the will of the flesh or the will of man, but by the
power of God exerted to save sinners through the gospel of
his son. And what he did, the gospel is the power of God. It's God saying, let there be
light. That's the power of God. God
said, let there be light, and there was. That's what he does
when the gospel's preached. He shines in our hearts to give
the light of his glory in the face of his son. He saves sinners
by the power of that gospel. Salvation is an exercising of
the power of God, not of the will of man. And God exercises
that power by that gospel preached. That's why Paul couldn't shut
up about it. The third is our text. Why can't you shut up,
Paul? Why would you take a beating?
Why would you suffer imprisonment? Can you imagine? Is there anything
more precious in this world in an earthly sense than freedom? Here's why. I know him. I know who I have believed. If you know Him, that changes
everything. Those that know Him, confess
Him. Those that know Him, declare
Him. Those that know Him, testify of Him. The woman at the well
couldn't get to town fast enough. She left her water bucket at
the well and went and said, come meet a man that told me all things
ever I did. Isn't this the Christ? John 1.45, Philip findeth Nathanael
and said unto him, we have found him. Knowing him changes everything,
doesn't it? If you know him, you got to tell.
You got to witness, you got to testify. We found him. Of whom Moses and the law and
the prophets did write. Jesus of Nazareth. the son of
Joseph. When you know him, you identify
him. There was no misunderstanding
that Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, that's him. That's
what John the Baptist did. There's the lamb of God right
there. There he is right there. That's what I want my messages
to do. I don't want to leave you in any question or doubt
about who he is. The son of God, God in human
flesh. God that cannot fail. God whose blood is mighty to
save. The power of his blood. We found him that Moses wrote
about, the prophets wrote about, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph, and Nathanael said unto him, can there any good thing
come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, come and
see. That's what God's preachers are saying. Come and see. The only way you're gonna understand
is if you know him like we do. We preach because we know who. and I'm gonna talk about this
verse again, so I'm gonna just close with this thought
this morning. If there literally was a fountain
of youth, and there was an endless supply, you'd tell the world Why wouldn't you? It's not gonna
run out. But there is a fountain so much
more precious than that, more vital. The simplest and most profound
reason that I preach the gospel and woe unto me is if I preach
not the gospel. Necessity is laid upon me. The
reason is I know him. And I'm persuaded that he's able. I look at my family, I look at
my friends, I look at people that I love in this world. I'm
persuaded that I'm not able. I can't help him. But I know who can. If he will,
he can, and so we preach. Because we know him. And we know
He's able. I don't expect anything from sinners
any more than God does. But because I know Him, I preach. Let's pray.