Now in verse eight, Paul is exhorting Timothy to
be strong and faithful in the face of affliction. Strong and faithful to preach
the gospel, whatever he may suffer for it. He said, be partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel. The gospel is always gonna be
accompanied by afflictions of some form or another. There's
just no question about that. But he's saying, be strong, be
faithful. And then in verse nine, Paul
identifies that gospel, which we are to preach at all costs,
whatever the cost to ourselves. Verse eight is the exhortation. He exhorts Timothy, don't back
down, don't compromise, don't flinch, don't water down the
message. All of the things that men are
prone to do and most so-called preachers do. Paul said, you
remember in Acts 20, 22, he said, now 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. but none of these things
move me. That's what he's telling Timothy
here. None of these things move me. Don't let them move you.
Neither count I my life dear unto myself if it comes to that,
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 bonds and afflictions because
of the gospel of the grace of God. And notice he said, testify
the gospel of the grace of God, not the gospel of the will of
man, not the gospel of God will if you will, the gospel of the
grace of God. That's where the bonds and afflictions
come in. That's where the trials and tribulations come in. People
hate the gospel. They don't hate what this world
preaches. If the gospel is who we are,
and not just a set of doctrines that we agree with, people are
going to know it. And they don't like it. They're
not gonna like you. They don't like your savior.
He said, they hated me before they hated you. Don't be surprised. Don't be shocked by that. They don't like it. But Paul is saying here, know
whom you have believed and don't be afraid to tell whoever needs
to hear it about him. It's whom. It's not a stance
that we take. I have some that are always trying
to get me to take a stance on something, on some point or another. My stance is I don't take stances.
I just believe God by his grace, I believe God. You pick out some
point of something or other and say, you got to take a stand
on it. No, I don't. I'm just going to preach Christ. If God
gives me grace, I'm going to preach Christ. It's not a stance we take or
a set of points we defend. We believe him, verse 12. I know
whom I have believed. That's what people have a problem
with. There are a lot of people that
wouldn't know the Lord if he walked in the door that'll agree
with you on the doctrines. But when you believe whom, you
have trouble in this world. We believe Him who saves whom
He will. We believe Him and own Him whose
precious blood redeems all for whom He shed it. It's a whom. Him who does not offer anything,
but is Himself salvation. We know Him and it changes who
we are, not just how we think. So Timothy, and every one of
you, look at this verse with me and pay careful attention
to it. 2 Timothy 2.3, just a page over from where we're at here.
Look at 2 Timothy 2.3. Thou therefore endure hardness. Is that what Paul's talking about
in our text? Be ready. Be ready to suffer
affliction for the gospel and do it without flinching. Endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that woreth
entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please
him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And notice it's the
affairs of this life He that loses his life for my
sake will find it. It's our life now. Remember that
our enemies, our enemies, especially now are not flesh and blood. In our day, especially, but think
about that for a minute. Paul actually had people trying
to kill him. And he said, my enemies are not
flesh and blood. The enemy is your pride, your
self-righteousness, your selfishness, your temper, your careless words,
your attitude, your flesh and mind. That's the enemy, that's
what we're fighting. That's where the rulers of darkness
in this world and high spiritual wickedness will attack you. Our
enemies are not flesh and blood, they're principalities and powers.
You know what they do? Satan has been doing it from
the start. You deserve better. God didn't mean that. This is about you. It should
be about you, not God. Same enemy, same issues. Our flesh, our pride, our self-righteousness,
me, me, me. Who's Paul fighting in Romans
chapter seven? You read that chapter again,
who's he fighting? There's your enemy right there. Now verse nine is our message
that we preach at all costs. Verse eight, he's saying at all
costs, whatever it takes, you're gonna suffer, stand firm, endure
hardness. Count not your life even dear
under your cell, that you may preach this gospel faithfully. And this gospel's a person. Now verse nine is the message
that we preach at all costs, at the cost of our pride, at
the cost of our rights, our selfishness, our self-righteousness, and it's
not what we preach. I know it's okay to say that,
as long as we're saying it in the right way, depending on how
we say that. But this is an important point.
What we preach is a who. Listen to John 530 now. Search
the scriptures, for in them, you think you have eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me, and you will not come to me, that you might have life. That's what we preach. 1 John
5, 11, and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his son. I love the doctrines of grace,
but life is not in the doctrines of grace. This life is in his
son, who the doctrine we preach identifies. Don't trust the doctrine,
trust the person that the doctrine teaches. Don't trust in your
knowledge of facts. No matter how true they are,
it's him. It's him. We just preach the
truth about him to bring people to him. That's what he was saying
to the, you search the scriptures. You think you have life because
you know the scriptures, but the scriptures are pointing you
to me and you won't come to me. That you might truly have life. This is the record that God hath
given to us eternal life, and this life's in his Son. He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. John 11, 24, Martha said to the
Lord, I know that Lazarus shall rise again in the resurrection
at the last day. Jesus said unto her, Martha,
I am the resurrection. You see what we're talking about?
I know whom I have believed. God hath saved us by Christ. Look at the phrase in verse nine
there, who hath saved us. This is the right order. He saved
us and called us. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound
right. How can he save us before he called us? He saved us in
Christ before the foundation of the world, that's how. The very first thing that God
did, if you can even talk like that, you know what I mean? God doesn't do things in a certain
order, he just does them. But the very first thing God
did, if you could even talk that way with regard to us, is save
us, who have saved us and called
us. That's why he called us, because
he saved us. You see, that salvation is not
something you do. It's not waiting on you. He saved
you before he ever called you. He didn't call us and then we
responded and then he saved us. That's how religion has it. It's
all backwards. It's all mixed up. Turn with
me please to 2 Thessalonians 2.13. And you tell me if this isn't
our text expounded better than I ever could in any other way. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. You think
about our text who saved us and called us. Second Thessalonians
2.13. But we are bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. You folks who God loves, that's where
it starts. Beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, who hath saved
us from the beginning. That's the first thing God ever
did for us, was save us. He had the gospel preached to
us later. And in a sense, we're saved by
the God, but he saved us before that. who have saved us, why? And notice, beloved of the Lord,
he chose you from the beginning. How many times have we said,
election is not eeny, meeny, miny, moe, it's Jacob have I
loved. He loved you and chose you. That is what his choice is, election
is choice. That's what his choice is, he
set his love on you. That's how he chose you, not
just picking you out. Beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit, and belief of the truth. He chose you from
the beginning and saved you from the beginning. But how's that
salvation gonna manifest itself? He's gonna have the truth preached
to you. You're gonna believe it. You're gonna believe it. Belief of the truth. Where unto? He called you. That comes later. He saved, loved you, chose you,
saved you, and called you by the gospel. That's the right
order. Where unto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see that? God's love is eternal. everything that happened, we
could say we're saved in eternity. We're saved in electing love. We could say we were saved the
day Christ died on Calvary. He redeemed somebody that day
with that precious blood. We could say we were saved the
day that we believed on him. All of that's true, but you know
where it started? The reason he gave himself for
you on Calvary is because God's love, God so loved that he gave
his only begotten son. Beloved of the Lord, chosen,
salvation, sanctification of the spirit, he sets you apart
from everybody and belief of the truth. Then by the gospel
he called you unto that salvation that he already That's already yours in Christ
before the foundation of the world It's the same exact order as
our text He called us by the gospel, but he saved us way before
that He's God he's not waiting on you to do something He's God And it says he called us with
a holy calling. Now, everything God does is holy,
right? Because he's holy. So if he called
you, it's a holy calling. His love is holy love. His choice
is a holy choice. But we don't have the word holy
in scripture in front of everything God did. So why here? Why a holy
calling? Well, holy means to set apart,
to distinguish. It means spotless, pure, perfect
inside of God, but also set apart by God. A difference is made. So what is it talking about here?
What sets us, his people, apart from the rest of this world? Look at 1 Peter 2 now with me.
1 Peter 2.9, what is it that sets
us apart? What does it mean, holy, sanctified
here? What does that mean? How does
that happen? What does that have to do with
our calling? 1 Peter 2.9, that you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation. a peculiar people,
that means that which is one's own, that you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. He called us with a holy calling. He set us apart, chosen, holy,
my own, and we're gonna praise him forever,
because all that was true, he called us out of darkness into
his marvelous light. You see the order? That's our
text. God, in electing love and grace,
saved us before we ever physically existed. God calls that which
is not as though it were, because in his purpose, it is, and therefore
it is. What God considers is, is, whether
we've experienced it or not. Before we ever existed, before
we had done, isn't that what he said about, I've loved Jacob
before he was ever born, before he had ever done any good or
evil, he loved us and hated everybody but us. I'd get run out of rail,
on a rail in most places for saying that. He loved his sheep
and he hated everybody but him. And because he loved us, he saved
us, called us by his grace. Having predestinated us to be
conformed to the image of his son, he called us by the gospel
to his son. and put us in his son, chose
us in his son, put us in Christ. And he made it so that one day
we heard of his son and came to his son by faith in his son. That's salvation. That's the
order of it. If you can even say there's an
order Listen now to this passage of
scripture. I want you to turn with me to Romans chapter 10
And let's ask some scriptural questions as we go through this
now Romans chapter 10 verse 9 This is our text now he called
us were until you are called by our gospel and Romans 10,
nine, and as we read this now, let's see if we can answer from
the word of God some questions as we read it. Let's just keep
asking this question. Who, who, who? That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth, who? The Lord Jesus. And shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. Now that's the moment of
conversion. That's when the Lord, you hear
the gospel, you confess With your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart That he's who he said he is that God raised
him from the dead You'll be saved But look now he's going to work
back from that Verse 11 for the scripture saith whosoever believeth
on him shall Should not be ashamed, for there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto
all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they've not believed? That's a simple question, isn't
it? And remember our question, who believed on who? Believed
on Christ. How does a sinner do that? By
grace are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Whosoever shall call, how then
shall they call on him in whom they've not believed, and how
shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how
shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except
they be sinned? So God from eternity, he loved
us, he chose us. And then one day he sends a preacher
to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this question
who all the way through this is Christ. How shall they hear
about who without a preacher? Christ. How shall they preach
except they be sinned? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. What's the gospel of peace? Christ
made peace by the blood of his cross. And bring glad tidings
of good things. And look at the next phrase in
our text, not according to our works. In case any of that didn't
already in our minds and hearts exclude, if God loved us from
the beginning and chose us before the foundation of the world,
we know it didn't have anything to do with us. We weren't yet
born nor had done any good or evil like Jacob and Esau. But then he spells it right out.
It's not according to your works. It's His calling that makes a
distinction between us and all others. He called us out. And it's His redeeming blood
that sanctifies us. Listen to Revelation 5, 9 again
in this context. We've heard this verse a bunch
of times, but listen. And they sung a new song saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
in other words, to fulfill all of the purpose of God, for thou
was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of. Those are key words right there,
out of. He didn't redeem every kindred,
tribe, tongue, nation under heaven. He redeemed us out of them. He chose us from among them and
separated us from them. The Lord doesn't make a difference
between Israel, his sheep and everybody else. out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation and has made us under our God kings and
priests and we shall reign on the earth not our works but his
blood he redeemed us out of The difference is not our works. It's not according to our works.
His redeeming us had to do nothing to do with us doing, saying,
or thinking anything. Did the Lord save the one thief
on the cross because he was different somehow than the other thief?
They're both guilty. They're both taking their last
breaths. What a beautiful picture. And they both cursed the Lord
Jesus Christ. The scriptures are very clear
about that. They both cursed him and made fun of him. But God saved one of them anyway. And what a beautiful example
in the Lord's very death on Calvary, there's the difference made.
The one on his right hand, the Lord, opened his eyes to who
he was and what he was, we're getting what we deserve, and left the other to die with
a curse on his lips. What a beautiful picture. What
a beautiful example of how it is with the whole human race.
We all curse him by nature. We all cast the same in his teeth. We all railed on him. We were
all guilty in getting what we deserve, but he suffered and
died that just for the unjust that he might bring somebody
to God. And he did. How could anything be clearer?
that our text, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace. Just because he wanted to. His own purpose. His own purpose
and grace. He wanted to because he's the
God of all grace. Why in the world did he want
to save me though? He saved me just because he wanted
to. Why did he want to save me? Because he loved me. Why did he love me? I have no idea, do you? I have no idea. He loved me in
Christ. But why did he put me in Christ
and not somebody else? Why didn't he leave me to myself
and save somebody better than me? I don't know. According to his own purpose
and grace, that's the answer we have, just because he wanted
to. God doesn't need another reason other than he wanted to. He purposed it, and he's gracious. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad it's according
to him and not according to our words? Who should stand? Who should stand? His own determination, that's
what that means. His purpose is determination.
He made the determination. According to his will, hath he
begotten us in Christ Jesus. Not your will, not your works. His own determination and loving
kindness in favor. That's what that word grace there
means. There's our word again, love, because he loved us. Listen to Hosea 14, four. You
remember the story of Hosea. Gomer God said there in 14 for
I will heal their back sliding. I Will love them freely For mine
anger is turned away. I Will love them for no reason
That's what that means you look it up I No cause. There's nothing in them. Why
in the world would Hosea love Gomer? The Lord taught us a little
something about his love. Just a little glimpse, just a
picture. It's not a perfect picture, but it teaches us something.
The most unlovely, unfaithful, horrible, But God said, you go love that
woman. And he did, and he bought her. He bought her for whatever
it took. And God said, that's my love
for you. I will love them freely. Romans 3.24, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Romans 8.32, he that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? First Corinthians 2.12, now we
have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. You sense a theme here? Revelation
22, 17. And the spirit and the bride
say, come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that's thirsty, come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, freely. Unconditional election. Unconditional love, which is
election. Unconditional grace. No reason in you God to have
mercy on you But the reason was in himself And the reason is he loved you Now notice that grace is given Purpose and grace given Unto
us. I want you to think about this
now, of course grace is a free gift It wouldn't be grace. Otherwise But it doesn't only
mean that. Think with me for a second, because
this is a distinction that's, it's clear, but I hope I can
explain it right. Grace is given in that it's a
free gift, which it clearly means that, and we rejoice in that
freely, freely, we read that. But it is given. It's not offered. It's given. You see what I mean? Of course it's a free gift, but
he gives it. He don't wait on you, he gives
it. He's not looking for something in you, he gives it. He gives
his grace. You see what I'm saying, the
difference there? It's free, there's no reason other than
in himself, his love for us that he gives it, but also he gives
it. You're getting it when he gives
it. It is given, it's not offered.
God didn't come to Abraham and say, in blessing, I sure would
like to bless you. He said, in blessing, I will
bless you. And here's what's gonna happen.
You see what I mean? He gives it. He said, I will, I will, and
he did. It's given. It's not offered. It's not made available. It's
bestowed. In the new covenant of God's
free grace in Christ, it's not I'm gonna do my dead level best
to put my word in your heart and remember your sins no more. It's I will. I will. I've spoken it and shall I not
perform it? The Lord Jesus did not say to
Zacchaeus, I sure would appreciate it if you'd invite me to your
house today. Did he? He said, you come down, I'm going
to live with you. I'm going to go abide with you
today. Grace is given. You see what I'm talking about?
It's given. It's given. No, no, he doesn't
offer. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. And I'm gonna praise him forever
for it, for not leaving it up to me. That's the worst thing
he could do. The worst thing God could do
to us is leave it up to us who've never made a decision yet that
wasn't evil and self-destructive. I'm gonna praise his holy name
forever because he maketh me to lie down. And green pastures,
and you know what those green pastures are? You know what those
still waters are? That's the last part of our verse
nine. In Christ Jesus, before the world
began, in Christ the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. All of God's blessing and grace
is in Christ Jesus and is Christ Jesus. One thing is needful. Where are you, Mary? Sitting
at the feet of the Son of God and hearing his word. Every blessing
God has to give is in Christ. We need him. And we don't need
anybody or anything else. Everything else there is. When
he gave us his son, he gave us everything. Everything we enjoy. Everything we love. Everything
we hope in and trust. All of our hope. All of our blessing, all of our
comfort, all of our peace with God, all of our salvation is in Christ and because of Christ.