Good morning, brethren. Let's
turn in our Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy
1. Paul writes here in verse 12. He says he was appointed a preacher,
an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, and he says in
verse 12, for the witch 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." I want to focus on this great comforting truth right
here that Paul said. He said, I'm persuaded that He
is able, that He is able, that Christ is able to keep that which
I have committed unto Him against that day. What does true God-given
faith believe? What does true God-given faith
believe? It believes Christ is able. That's what true faith
believes. It believes God is able to save. That's what true faith believes.
Do you believe God our Savior is able to save you? Do you believe
He is able to save all His people? Do you believe He is able to
perform all His promises? He is able. He is sovereign God
and He is able. Now I want to look at some Scriptures
this morning. I think it will help us see this
phrase repeatedly and see some different ways in which God promises
us that He is able. Let's go first of all to Romans
4. Romans chapter 4. God saves by promise. He tells
us what He's going to do, makes covenant promise, and then He
brings it to pass. Exactly like He said He would
do it. He's able to do that because He's sovereign God. In Romans
4.18, Abraham against hope, believed in hope that he might become
the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken,
according to God's promise, he said, so shall thy seed be. He
said, God said, I'm going to call out people from many nations
and I'm going to save them through faith in my Son and you're going
to be the father of all these, Abraham. I called you first,
gave you faith first. You're going to be the father
of all these children. And it said, and being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. And Paul said, and it will be
imputed to us if we believe on him. You see there, he had those
promises and he believed God was able to perform those promises. God told him he would be the
father of many nations. And at that time, Abraham didn't
have any children. He didn't have any children.
He was old. And Sarah was old. And we know both of them. In
the beginning, they staggered at this promise. They looked to their own wisdom
and looked to Hagar and Abraham produced Ishmael. He married
Hagar, Sarah's handmaid, and produced Ishmael. But God taught
him, this is not the child Abraham. And God persuaded him. God taught
him. And God does this for us a lot
too. We stumble and we fumble and we fall around in unbelief.
And God just brings you to the end of yourself to trust Him.
And He persuades you. He's able. He's able. The God of the Bible is able
to perform every covenant promise He's made. He promises to send
forth His Son and redeem all His people. That's what He promised. And in the fullness of the time,
that's what happened. The Son of God came down and
took flesh and dwelt among us and He accomplished the redemption
of His people. And Abraham believed that He
would do that. Abraham believed Christ was coming
and that the Lord Jesus was going to redeem him and all His people
from the curse of the law. You remember, let's go over to
Daniel, over to Daniel. And Mark Daniel, because I'm
going to come back to this in a moment. But you know Daniel,
and Hanani, and Mishael, and Azariah, they were taken captive
in Babylon. And the Babylonians changed their
names. They changed, Daniel 4.7 says,
unto Daniel they gave him the name Belshazzar, unto Hananiah,
they gave him the name Shadrach. Mishael, they gave him the name
Meshach. Azariah, Abednego, we know them
by those names, don't we? That's not their original name.
That wasn't their Hebrew name. But Nebuchadnezzar threatened
them. Remember that? He threatened them. If they did
not bow and worship his God, he was going to cast them into
the fiery furnace. If they didn't bow and worship
his God, he'd cast them into the fiery furnace. And look here
at Daniel 3 and look at verse 15. Daniel 3.15. And at the end there of that
verse, the end of Daniel 3.15, he said, Who is that God that
shall deliver you out of my hands? That's what Nebuchadnezzar said
to him. I'm going to throw you, I'm going to bind you, and I'm
going to throw you in this fiery furnace, heated seven times,
heated to perfection. Who is that God that shall deliver
you out of My hand?" And verse 16 says, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego answered, and they said to the king, O
Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer thee in this matter.
We boldly will answer you in this matter. That's what they're
saying. If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver
us from the burning, fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of
thine hand, O King." Brethren, that happened. That really happened. You don't talk about God giving
you faith. Here's the most powerful king in the world telling you,
if you don't bow and worship my God, my idol, I'm going to
bind you and throw you in a fiery furnace." And that's how they
answered him. Our God is able to deliver us
out of that furnace. What's the little problem me
and you have right now? Whatever our problem is right
now, it kind of pales, doesn't it, compared to where they were
at when they're sitting there facing a fiery furnace and about
to be thrown in that fiery furnace? And that's the faith they had.
Our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.
And He will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. And so after
He cast them in there, they bound them, they cast all three of
them into that fiery furnace. I mean all four of them in there.
Three of them in there. And Daniel 3.25. Daniel 3.25. He asked him, he said, didn't
we cast three men bound into that furnace? And then he said
in Daniel 3.25, he said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking
in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form
of the fourth is like the Son of God. And they came out of
that furnace, they came out of that furnace without any hurt,
without any hair singed, without any damage to their clothing,
and they didn't even have the smell of smoke on them. Delivered
them out of there. Our Lord Jesus came down and
He suffered the fiery furnace of God's holy wrath, His holy
justice. And all His people were in Christ
the Lord when He suffered that. We were in Him when He suffered
that. And He came through that fiery furnace and delivered all
His people through that fiery furnace. And we came out of it
without even a hair singed, without even the smell of smoke on us,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. That's what He accomplished
for His people. And so anything else you and
me face in this world, He's able to deliver you out of it. If
He delivered you through the cross, that's the fiery furnace
heated to perfection. If He delivered us through that
fiery furnace, He's able to deliver us through anything we face in
this world. Anything. Darius, you stay there
in Daniel. Darius, he loved Daniel. And
they tricked him. They tricked King Darius. Remember,
they wanted to entangle Daniel and they wanted to try to kill
him. And so they had Darius pass a law. that if any pray to the
God of Israel, they would throw them to the lion's den. And he
signed it. And the laws of the Medes and
the Persians cannot be altered. It cannot be altered. And Darius,
they came to him and they said, Daniel, he broke your law. What
are you going to do about it? And Darius stayed up all night
trying to figure out how can I uphold my law and justice and
yet spare Daniel and have mercy on him. And he couldn't do it.
He could not figure out, how can I make mercy and justice
meet in peace? One or the other is going to
fail. Now that's so with me and you,
brother. We can't make justice and mercy
meet in harmony. That's the wisdom of God. That's
the wisdom of God. And so, Darius executed justice. He threw him in the lion's den.
You know what that lion's den represents? That lion's mouth
represents the justice of God. That's what it represents. That's
what it was. He'd broken the law and that
was justice throwing him in that lion's den and that mouth of
those lions represented justice going to destroy him. But Christ satisfied the law.
He went into the lion's den. Our Lord Jesus Christ came and
He satisfied justice for His people and He shut the lion's
mouth. That's what Christ accomplished.
So that God's just to be merciful to us. He upheld the law so God's
just to be merciful to us. Look here at Daniel 6 now in
verse 20. Daniel 6 in verse 20. And when
Darius, it says there, When he came to the den that
next morning, he went there real early that next morning, and
he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. He just knew Daniel
had been torn limb to limb by those lines. And he cried with
a lamentable voice unto Daniel, and the king spake and said to
Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom
thou servest continually able Is He able to deliver thee from
the lions?' And then said Daniel unto the
king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent His angel, and
He hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt Me. For
as much as before Him Innocency was found in me, and also before
thee, O king, have I done no hurt." End of verse 23 says,
So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt
was found upon him, because he believed in his God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was able.
He shut the mouth of justice for his people. And now, in Christ,
viewing you in Christ, you that trust Him and believe Him, viewing
you in Christ, God says, I see nothing but innocency. That's
all I see is innocency. He made justice and mercy kiss
in perfect harmony to save His people. And so God promises now,
I'll forgive their iniquity. He promises I'll remember their
sin no more because Christ has put our sins away. He really
has put our sins away. He cast them into the depth of
the sea. God said they shall not be found. He said they can
be searched for but they will not be found. He forgives the
iniquity of His people and remembers our sin no more. He performed
that promise. That was God's promise and He
performed it. And so faith believes God's able
to perform every covenant promise He's made to us. We believe He's
able. Now, let's see some of these
things that God's promised He'll do for His people. God's able
to regenerate us. He's able to raise up His people
from the dead, give us life, give us faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's able. He promised He would
do that. That's what He promised Abraham.
Abraham believed God was able to perform His promise. He believed
He could do that. God gave him a test then. After
He gave him Isaac, God gave him a test. He said, ìNow Abraham,
you take this only son of yours, Isaac, and you offer him up on
the altar. You slay this boy on the altar.î
Go over to Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 11. Thatís what the Lord
told him. He said, ìNow he told him, ìThrough
Isaac shall thy seed be called.î Now God says, ìNow you go and
you slay that boy." And Abraham did it. And really and truly,
in his heart, Abraham killed his son. If God hadn't stopped
him, he was slaying him. And it says here in Hebrews 11.19,
here's how he did it. Hebrews 11.19, accounting that
God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence
he also received him in a figure. That means in type he did receive
him from the dead because by all purpose Abraham slew him. But see that he accounted God
was able to raise him up from the dead. May God help us hear
this. Brethren, He had raised Abraham
up from the dead. He called him out of the Ur-Kaldee
and raised him from the dead and regenerated him. Hadn't He
done that for you? Hadn't He called you and raised
you from the dead? And then He had raised Isaac
from the dead. Abraham was a hundred years old,
Sarah's womb was barren, and He raised Isaac from the dead. Has He not showed us over and
over and over He's able to fulfill His promises? And so when God
called on Abraham to offer up His son Isaac, Abraham accounting,
God's able. He's able to raise Him from the
dead. That was the faith He had. God is able to raise Him up even
from the dead. That's what faith believes. Faith
believes God's able to save He's able to raise us up. He's God. He's able to heal His people.
He's the great physician who can heal His people, who can
give His people sight. You remember those blind men
that followed Him and they were crying out unto Him for sight
and for Him to have mercy on them? Remember what the Lord
asked them? The Lord turned to them in Matthew 9.28 and He said,
Believe ye that I am able to do this. Take your hand off of it. Whatever
it is, your salvation, your justification, your sanctification, your health,
your wanting to see your situation worked out, wanting to see the
circumstances change, wanting to see brethren benefited in
this way or that, take your hand off of it. Believe you God is able to do
this? Do you believe Christ is able to do this? That's what
Christ said to them. Do you believe I'm able to do
this? They said unto Him, Yes, Lord. And then He touched their
eyes and He said, According to your faith, be it unto you. And
their eyes were opened. He gave sight to the blind by
them doing nothing but believing He was able. That's all they
did, they just believed He was able. What about when we become lifted
up in pride? If it was up to us now, let's
be honest, if it was up to us, when we become lifted up in pride,
what would happen? Same thing that would have happened
if it had been left to us to give ourselves life and faith.
We'd be dead. We'd perish. Is God able to humble
His child? Ask Nebuchadnezzar. Back there
in Daniel chapter 4, God, He was bragging and boasting about
how He formed that mighty kingdom and all what He had accomplished
and everything He had done. And God made Nebuchadnezzar a
madman. And he was out there in the field
like a wild beast on his all fours, till his hair was like
eagle feathers and his nails were like claws. And listen to
what he said here in Daniel 4. And he said, Daniel 4.34, And
at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me. God took it from him
and humbled him and then God gave his understanding back.
And he said, And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and
I honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing, and He doeth according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest
Thou? At the same time, my reason returned
to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness
returned to me. And my counselors and my Lord
sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent
majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise
and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all whose works are
truth, and His way's judgment. And those that walk in pride,
He is able to abase. He's able. God saved Nebuchadnezzar. That's what he's saying. Before
he was proud and he was trusting his works and what he had done,
and God brought him down, brought him down, showed him what a beast
he was, showed him what a sinner he was. Then God gave him real
understanding and made him seek who God is. And he said, now
I praise and I extol him. He gave him a true kingdom. He
gave him God's kingdom. And he said, he's able to abase. He's able. Well, what about when
we fall? We're either usually one place
or the other. We're either puffed up or we're
way down. One place or the other. What
about when we're falling? What about when we're in the
dark valley? Paul said that all of his people are Christ's
servants. He's the master, we're the servants.
And he said, to his own master he standeth and followeth. That's so of you that believe,
that's so of your brethren who believe. They may appear fallen,
It may appear to you it's just not any hope. Listen to what he says. To his
own master he standeth or falleth. Didn't the master make Nebuchadnezzar
fall? He abased him, didn't he? Well
now, who lifted him up then after he abased him? The same master
that abased him. And this is what Paul said in
Romans 14, verse 4, "...Yea, he shall be held up, for God
is able to make him stand." He's able to make him stand. Faith
believes Christ is able to make His servants stand. We can't. You can't. You can't. You put your hand to it and try
to steady the ark. The ark don't need you to help
him steady himself. And he don't need us to help
him steady his people. He will make his people stand.
He may take you around a far way around to do it. But it'll
be just like Nebuchadnezzar. If you'd have looked at Nebuchadnezzar
out there in that field like a wild beast, you'd have said,
it's over for that man. There's no hope for that man.
But when it pleased God, He made him stand. And that's what Christ
is going to do. You know what He's teaching you
and me and every one of His people? He alone makes us stand. He alone is our master. We're not the master. I'm not
the master over you. You're not the master over me.
Christ is our master. and He will make His people stand. And if we're like Nebuchadnezzar
and we think we can make Him stand and we're going to try
to make His people stand, He'll abase us. He's able to abase. And then once He's abased us,
He's able to make you stand in faith and trust Him. That's Christ. That's the Master. That's the
Master. What about our needs? We got
so many needs. What about our needs in this
life? I want you to see this over in 2 Chronicles 25. 2 Chronicles
25. There was a king of Judah named
Amaziah. And this king Amaziah, he decided
he was going to go up against the Moabites. fight the Moabites. So he counted his men in Judah,
and he decided he needed some more soldiers. And so he hired
100,000 men of the children of Israel, and he gave them 100
talents of silver. That was a lot. These were mercenary
soldiers. At this time, Judah and the children
of Israel, they're separated. There's just two tribes with
Judah, but there's ten and a half over here with Israel. And he
hired 100,000 soldiers from the children of Israel to come fight
with him. And the Lord sent a preacher to him. And the preacher came
to him and he said, ìDonít take these children of Israel into
that battle with you.î He said, ìIf you take them into battle
with you, Godís going to make you fail. Heís going to deliver
you into the hand of the Moabites if you take the children of Israel
with you.î Because the children of Israel had already set up
a golden calf, they weren't coming to Jerusalem and worshipping
in the one place God said He'd meet with them. They then turned
to idols and God said, He's overthrowing them. And the question He asked
was this, He said, what about that hundred talents of silver
I already gave them? I already paid them. And here
was God's answer, 2 Chronicles 25 verse 9. He said, and the man of God answered,
the Lord is able to give thee much more than this. He said,
you're going to lose your money, Amaziah. You already gave him
a hundred talents of silver. You ain't getting that back.
He said, if you obey God, you're going to lose that. He said,
but God's going to give you much more. He'll give you much more. And so he sent them back. He
sent them back. Money is not our salvation, brethren.
Christ is our salvation. He is our provider. He is our
provider. He said, They shall cast their
silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed. Their
silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the
day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their
souls, neither fill their bowels, because it is the stumbling block
of their iniquity. We worry and we fret over our
daily needs. Look over at Luke chapter 12.
We worry and we fret over our daily needs. And I'm convinced of this, brethren. You look at the economy now and
you look at the things that's happening. You know why God does
stuff like this? For His people. For His people. He brings lean times over whole
nations for His remnant that's living in those nations. Why? To make us know He's our provider. He's our salvation. Not us. Not us. If He let us prosper
and let us get too prosperous in the things of this world,
we would go straight away from Him. Straight away from Him.
And he won't let that happen. He just won't let that happen.
But listen to what he said right here. This is what Christ said,
Luke 12, 25. He said, which of you with taking
thought, being all anxious and fretful and worrisome and just
wringing your hands and trying to scheme and work it all out,
which of you can add to his stature one cubit? if ye then be not able to do
that which is least." God said, that's least. He said, if you're
not able to do the least, why take you thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they
grow. They toil not, they spend not, yet I say unto you that
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so clothed the grass, which is today in the field and
tomorrow is cast in the oven, how much more will he clothe
you, O ye of little faith? Well, that may I just set on
my hands at the house. No, that means, that means He'll
open up the door. He'll open up your business.
He'll open up your avenue to make your ends meet or what have
you. But you don't have to fret over it. You don't have to worry
about it when times get lean. What's he doing when times get
lean? He's showing you, you can't do the least. Why are you worrying
about the rest? You can't take care of the least.
He's saying, look to me and trust me. This is His promise right
here, 2 Corinthians 9.8, God is able to make all grace abound
towards you that you always, having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound to every good work. It don't get no better
than that. Listen to that. God is able to
make all grace abound toward you that you always, having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. That's
His promise. That's what He's able to do.
being enriched in everything to all bountifulness which causeth
through us thanksgiving to God. But you that are saved, you know
that that bountifulness He's talking about, it's not in temporal
things. It's in spiritual matters. It's
knowing Him and knowing He's ruling and knowing He's providing.
That's peace. That's peace. What about when
we're in the trial and sorrows fill in our heart? and we're just weeping. What about then? Well, faith
believes Christ is able. He turned to those blind men
and said, you believe I'm able to do this? What's He able to
do when your heart's just weeping? What's He able to do? Hebrews
2.18, in that He Himself has suffered being tempted. He is able to secure them that
are tempted. When you're in a trial, he's
been in every trial we've ever faced, far more than we faced
it. Far more. Far more sorrowful,
far more heart-wrenching than we have ever faced it. And he
knows exactly what you suffer. And he says, come to me. Come
to me. Ask of me. I'll comfort you."
He's able. He's able. Here's the sum of
it all, brethren. This is the sum of everything
right here. Hebrews 7.25 says, He is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth
to make intercession for them. He's able to save to the uttermost. That's so. He's the great, eternal,
immutable High Priest of His people who is risen victorious
to God's right hand, having accomplished redemption for His people and
He ever lives. There's no change to His priesthood.
He ever lives. He's making intercession for
His people and He is providing. This is who Nebuchadnezzar was
talking about that rules the armies of heaven and the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay His hand or question what He's
doing. This is our High Priest. He's
able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him,
seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us. It's by
His effectual atonement. It's by His infallible grace.
It's by His prevailing intercession before the Father. He saves from
the guttermost to the uttermost. That's what He does. Paul was
in prison when he was writing to Timothy. He's in prison. Most of his brethren had turned
their back on him. He's in prison. And God used him to write the
majority of the New Testament. That ought to teach us something,
brethren. That if you want the most blessing, you're going to
get it in the suffering. You're going to get it in the
fire. You want to be used most of God, you're going to get it
going through the trial. But this is what he wrote to
Timothy, I'm not ashamed. I know who I have believed. And
I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. He's able. He's keeping me, Paul
said. He's keeping me. You go read
again all the things Paul suffered. Shipwrecked three times, beaten
two or three times, all the things he suffered. And he said, had
made me ashamed yet for trusting Christ. He is able to keep that
which I have committed unto Him against that day. And he said
this, he said, how is he going to do this? Where are you going
to find this comfort at? You are going to find it right
here in this book. You are going to find it right
here in this gospel preached. When Paul left his brethren,
he said this, He said, he was there, he preached the gospel
and the Lord had saved some of his brethren through his preaching.
But he moved on to another place. But Paul wasn't the least bit
worried that they would fall away because
he knew Christ would keep them. And he said this in Acts 20.32,
Now brethren, I commend you to God. I'm trusting you to Him. That's what He said. To the Word
of His grace which is able to build you up and give you an
inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Don't ever turn
from the Word. Don't ever turn from the preaching
of the Gospel. This is how He's going to build you up. And He's
going to be the one to do it. We may fall, Scripture declares
that plainly. We see it in more saints than
not in the Scriptures. But you will not fall away. His
people will not fall away. Jude said, now to him that's
able to keep you from falling. He's not talking about keeping
you from sinning. He's talking about keeping you
from apostasy, keeping you from falling away and perishing. unto
Him that's able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Savior be the glory and the majesty and the dominion
and the power right now and forever." He's saying He's the only one
that's able. That's what He's saying. He's
the only one that's able. He is able right now to subdue
everything to Himself. And one day He will and He will
change our vile bodies that may be fashioned and likened to His
glorious body by that power whereby He is able to subdue all things
unto Himself, Paul said. That's His ability. And the fact of the matter is
we look at these things and we try to think about these things
and we enter into them and they bless our hearts to know what
He is able to do. And we really hadn't even scratched the surface.
Because Paul said, he's able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in
us. And unto him be the glory and
the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen. That's why Paul said, he's sitting
in a jail cell. writing to his young friend Timothy. And he said, Timothy, I'm not
ashamed. He said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. Are you persuaded? He's able. Our Father, we thank you for
this Word. We pray, Lord, that you bless us to our heart, increase
our faith, Grant us repentance from ourselves and our wisdom
and our strength and our ability and this world and our money
and every filthy, stinking, sinful thing about us and this world.
Grant us repentance from it all, Lord. And make us simply believe
that you are able. That's that peace you give through
believing that passes all understanding, Lord. We ask you to give us that
faith to trust that you are able. Forgive us, Lord, our unbelief.
In Christ's name we ask it. Amen.