Let's be turning to 2 Timothy
chapter 1. The gospel that our Lord has given
to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of Christ declares
the full, free salvation of our God for sinners. Sinners need
the grace of God. Sinners need the salvation of
God. This salvation which He's wrought
for us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ is complete. It's complete. It's sure. It's
perfect. It's finished. It's a finished
salvation. That means there's nothing to
add to it. There's nothing that we can or
are required to add to this salvation. We dare not add anything to perfection. Christ has finished it. Christ
has finished it. And this, the fact that it's
complete in Him and finished in the Lord Jesus Christ, it
means, well it is so because it rests on Christ. The Father
looks to the Son for all things that we need. All things. He looks to the Son. God isn't
looking to sinners to add anything to what He has finished and completed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we need to stand faultless
before the throne of God is given. given to us freely in the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you need something, He gives
it in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He looks to His Son. He looks to our surety to provide
everything that we need. Everything that we need. Just
as your children who depend on you, look to you to give them
everything they need. So the father looks to his son
to provide everything that we need. And in Adam, we lack everything
that we need. We can't provide it, but he gives
it freely in Christ. And the more boldly, more plainly,
more simply we declare this gospel, The more angry the world gets,
the more upset carnal men, dead in religion, hate it and voice
their opposition to it. And they point out what's wrong
with what you're saying and how it leaves too much for the sinner
to do what he would do. But even that, who gives us the
change of heart? The Lord. The Lord gives us the
change of heart. The Lord gives us a new heart.
He gives us His Spirit. He makes us partakers of His
grace and mercy. But the wicked, they persecute
the children of God. They persecute God's people who
declare and who trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And they make it
sound as though Christ is not sufficient to save His people
to the uttermost. Everything we need, He gives. He gives. And so Paul said of
those that would persecute him and attack him for this gospel,
he noted when he was writing to the Romans, he noted how they
were slandering him. the preachers of grace. They
were slandering them, saying that they were saying things
that they weren't saying. Paul said, We be slanderously
reported, and some affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good
may come, whose damnation is just. Now, we don't know exactly
what they heard said, what prompted them to say this, but it sounds
like they were twisting the gospel. Sounds like they were hearing
Paul preach and other faithful ministers preach the gospel,
and they were drawing carnal, fleshly conclusions about what
the Lord was saying in Christ. Perhaps they heard the apostles
say that Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and
will of God, of the foreknowledge of God, and that men by wicked
hands took and crucified him and slayed him, whom God raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should be holden of it, and declaring how that through
the sacrifice of Christ our sins are put away. Through the weakness
of Christ, through the humility of Christ, we've been delivered
from our sins and the just condemnation of God. We've been delivered. And they heard this word preached
and some said, what are you saying? What are you saying? That God
purposed this? That God purposed that through
evil, good should come? And we're saying, yeah, we meant
it for evil. What man did, he meant for evil.
like what Joseph's brethren did in selling them down to Egypt. They meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. God purposed it for good. And
so for Mam, he hears the gospel and he turns it and twists it
and doesn't understand what the good news is. Perhaps they heard
Paul preach that salvation is full and free, that God saves
his people apart from works. And they hear that and think,
What you're saying is that God saves people without requiring
anything of man, without requiring anything of the sinner. What
you're saying is, let us do evil, that good may come of it. But Paul never said that. He
said that truth. Yeah, you're right. God doesn't
look to the sinner for anything, for their salvation. He provides
everything. We're sinners. We're on the broad
road that leadeth to destruction. We're on a path that leads to
eternal destruction and ruin. But God, but God who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. And
he affirmed and declared over and over that it's by grace ye
are saved, not by the works of the law, but by grace ye are
saved. And that means even publicans
and sinners, even people who don't show that they're worthy
of salvation. God saves his people and delivers
them from death and darkness. and he delivers them before they
turn their lives around, before they do something to earn God's
mercy and grace. I don't know what it was that
they heard Paul and the other apostles preach, but when a man
hears the gospel without the spirit of God, he doesn't understand
it. He doesn't understand how that
God could be just and merciful and gracious to a sinner without
that sinner first fixing themselves and turning their lives around
and doing things rightly. rather than hearing what we're
saying, that God in grace saves sinners. And he gives his spirit
and delivers them from death and darkness by his grace, by
his grace. And so the point is that the
Jews and the pagan idolaters who made their living off of
idolatry and false religion, they despise this gospel. They
hate God, the true and living God. They hate his Christ. and
they hate his people and those that preach this gospel. And
they persecuted believers by imprisoning them, fining them,
hoping for bribes, tempting them, even putting them to death. And
so Paul is writing to Timothy. This is believed to be his last
epistle. And Paul is writing to Timothy
to encourage him, to strengthen him, to withstand the persecution
and the hardship of this world, which hates this gospel and hates
this God. persecutes those that that love
this God and love this gospel and are thankful for Christ and
what he's done and so Paul is encouraging Timothy and he says
in chapter 1 verses 7 and 8 2nd Timothy for God hath not given
us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound
mind of a sound mind because When the world hears what we're
doing and hears our confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, they
think we're out of our mind. Even Festus, when he heard Paul
giving defense of himself after he had appealed unto Caesar to
stand before Caesar, Festus cried out saying, thou art beside thyself. Paul, much study, much learning
hath made thee mad. And Paul said, no hum of a sow
mine. I'm not crazy. I haven't lost it. I know exactly
whom I have believed. I know exactly whom I've committed
all my salvation to, and I'm confident. I'm confident of that
final day that I shall stand before Him, justed and accepted
and received of Him, because I'm not coming in my own righteousness,
I'm coming in the righteousness of His darling Son, whom He loves,
whom He sent to save me from my sins. And so Paul charged
Timothy, encouraged Timothy, exhorted him, saying in verse
8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. God has purposed
this. He's appointed our afflictions. Don't be ashamed. Don't shrink
back from them. Don't put your hand to the plow
and then pull back as soon as opposition and the harshness
and fierceness of this world comes against you. Trust your
Lord. Trust your God. Continue. Don't
be ashamed because I'm His prisoner. And when He said of me His prisoner,
what He's saying is the Lord has done this. The Lord has put
me in prison. I'm His prisoner. This isn't
man getting away with doing something against God and God's people.
Outside of God's control, he's saying God hath allowed this
to happen. He's purposed this to happen
for the good of his kingdom, for my good, and for your good,
Timothy. Don't be ashamed. Because when
you read the epistles, I get the sense when I read the epistles
that there were some in the church, perhaps even of the 70, original
70, that turned from Paul that said, Paul, you're pushing too
hard. You're pushing too hard. And you're causing trouble, Paul.
Why don't you just back off? Don't talk about the law being
insufficient. Let them have the law. It'll
be OK. The Lord will fix it. But Paul
said, no, we're not saved by the law. We're saved by grace.
And he gloried in Christ rather than in the flesh. And so there
were some that opposed Paul, that stood against Paul. But
I'm thankful. And we're thankful that Paul
was so fervent and adamant for the sake of the gospel that has
continued with us to this day because we stand confident on
the foundation, which is Christ, which is Christ. He is the salvation
of God. So what is this testimony? He said, don't be ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord. What is this testimony that's
worth us laying down our lives for? for being hated and persecuted
and despised by the flesh. Because Paul said, if I get preached
circumcision, I wouldn't be persecuted. If I just preached circumcision
and allowed that to be part of the gospel, then I wouldn't be
hated and persecuted by my own countrymen. They'd accept me.
They'd put up with me. So what is this testimony that
makes us willing to lay down our lives to despise the shame
of the world that comes against us for Christ's sake? Paul declares
this testimony in verse 9. We'll look at it in four points.
Four comforts that the Lord has revealed to us, borne witness
of to us, of His testimony of our salvation. Let's hear these
things. Let me read verse 9. Who hath
saved us. Don't be ashamed of this testimony
of Him that hath saved us and called us with an holy calling
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. So I want to look at these four
comforts, these four blessings that are declared and revealed
to us in the testimony of our Lord. So first, the testimony
of our Lord is that Christ hath saved us. Christ, Jesus, hath
saved us. This is a blessing that has happened. It's been accomplished. Christ
has saved his people from their sins. By the time that news reaches
the ears of His people, it's already been done. It's already
happened. Christ has saved His people. The significance of that, the
reason why we declare that and make that known is because it
comforts the child of God to know that God hath done this. God isn't still looking to me
to do something. He's provided everything that
I need. We believe in Christ because
we're believing the salvation that God says He has provided
in Christ. He's giving us faith to rest
in the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe He's my righteousness,
He's my salvation, He's my all. God isn't still waiting to see
if I'm going to be good enough and whether or not I've done
enough to receive this salvation. He's saying I have saved my people. And I manifest those that are
my people by revealing faith in them, that trusts in my son,
that rests in my son, that stops coming to me in their righteousness
and saying, look what I've done. Is this enough, Lord? Did I do
enough here? Did I do enough there? And they
come saying, Lord, receive me for Christ's sake. I have nothing,
Lord, but I believe. I hear your word, I believe your
word that in Christ I'm delivered, that my sins are put away. And so our Lord is telling us
that the sinner is saved. He's the one Christ came and
put away their sin. Christ came and settled our debts. Christ came and delivered his
people out of the hands of God's justice. He delivered us from
the wrath of God. And on top of that, he gives
us eternal life. He gives us His Spirit and life
within, which is begun even now in faith, that eternal life that
we shall know more fully in that day when we appear before Him. We have a down payment right
now, His Spirit, life in us through faith that looks to Him and believes
His word and rests in Him and trusts Him and seeks Him and
is happy to serve our God. Paul said to the Romans, Romans
5, 8, and 9, he said, but God commendeth his love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While I didn't know anything,
Christ laid down his life for me. When I didn't earn anything,
because I can't earn anything, Christ laid down his life for
me. As an unworthy sinner that I am, Christ laid down his life
for me. and gave himself for me and loved
me, me, a nobody, a nobody, a nothing. And so Christ did that. Much
more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. It'll be more fully realized
in that day, but we know it already. I am delivered from the wrath
of God for Christ's sake. He hath saved me. He hath delivered
me from death and destruction. And so all of Christ's church,
every one of his children was redeemed, purchased, that means
purchased with the blood of Christ before, by Christ when he went
to the cross while we were yet in our sins. yet in our sins,
having done nothing to earn him. And when Christ came, believe
it or not, most people didn't even know him, didn't know who
he was, maybe heard of him, maybe didn't. Didn't know much about
him. There was only a handful of disciples
that he had revealed and blessed to know that this was the Christ. As our Lord said, Blessed art
thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this
to you, that I'm the Christ, but my father, which art in heaven. My Father has given this to you.
And so, you that believe, it's not because your flesh has faith
in it. It's not because your flesh has
that ability. It's because God has given you that faith. Rejoice,
therefore. Rejoice, you that believe in
Christ. Rejoice, because that's the testimony of God, that you're
His child. And He keeps you and promises
to keep you. Keep looking to Christ. Keep looking to Him.
And don't be turned to anything else, Christ is all. Now let
me give you a couple other scriptures on that truth. Ephesians 1 verses
4 and 5 says that it's according as He, God, hath chosen us in
Him, in Christ His Son, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. because Christ is sufficient,
having predestinated us. He chose us, and he purposed
our path. He worked out our path and predestination
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. That means he didn't look outside
of himself. He didn't look to see what you were doing or not
doing. He looked to his son. He's content and perfect within
himself. And he chose whom he would within
himself. Chose whom he to whom he would
be gracious and merciful Romans 9 11 for the children being not
yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election Might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth God chooses whom he will whom he will Second,
the testimony of our Lord is that Christ hath called us. He saved us. He saved us apart
from our works and it pleases Him. to bring his children into
the light, to give us a knowledge of what our God and Savior has
done. And so he calls us. He doesn't
save us and then leave us in darkness. He calls us through
this gospel and blesses this gospel to your hearts, to the
hearts of his people, to hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches, to receive this word and to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. he calls his people whom Christ saved with his own blood.
It's an effectual call. He will not be denied. I used
to hear others, other professors, the ones I heard happen to be
among the Spanish Pentecostals, but they would always say, The
Holy Spirit's a gentleman. The Holy Spirit's a gentleman.
He won't come in and give you salvation. You have to accept
it. I'm so thankful, I said, and I'm so thankful to this day
that he's not a gentleman and waits for me to do something,
but he comes with power and glory and conquers this wicked heart
and delivers me out of death, giving me faith and salvation
and the light of his grace and glory. That's what he does for
his child. He delivers us from death. We
would be dead, dead in trespasses and sins and remain. That's how
we're born and that's where we would remain except for God's
mercy and grace. And so he saved us first and
then he effectually calls us by his grace. He brings us out
of the kingdom of darkness into his kingdom of light, into the
kingdom of his son. And so God calls those who have
been saved. He has saved us, he does save
us by calling us, and he shall save us in the end. We shall
know it more fully. In fact, he gives us the eternal
counsel and will of God. I think some call it the charter
of salvation. In Romans 8 verse 29 and 30,
for whom he did foreknow. And what he means there is not
known what you would do. That is, he says, for whom he
did foreknow, those that he knew, those that he loved. Loved in
Christ before the foundation of the world, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son. that he might be,
Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. The thought there is that that
time there that he just spoke of, of our predestination, it
covers the time of his eternal will and counsel in eternity
past, all the way until Christ came and laid down his life.
and rose again for his people and ascended to the Father. This
is all covered. Our God has done this for his
people. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And I believe that justification
there is he manifests this salvation in the hearts of his people.
He shows, he testifies that he has justified you by Christ. He manifests the salvation in
the hearts of his people. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. When we shall know the fullness
of our salvation, seeing him, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. And we shall dwell with the Lord
forever. Third, the testimony of our Lord
is that Christ hath called us within holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. And so, this makes it very clear
that it's our Lord's blood that has saved us, and it's not made
effectual by something we do. The blood of Christ is not made
effectual by something we do, by a choice we make or a decision
we make. It's effectual because it's Christ's
blood. And He will not be denied for
those for whom He died, He will not be denied of receiving them,
of delivering them, of having them, because they're his purchased
possession. The natural mind, it's very easy. We feel this in our hearts, in
our thoughts, in our minds, that we're blessed by something we
do or don't do. And we hear it. We read it in
books. We see it in movies, we see it in the things of this
world that the natural mind believes that my salvation or my blessings
are the result of something that I've done or not done. And the
Lord is saying, no, you're blessed in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus because I will be gracious to you. I have purpose to be
good and gracious to you and to deliver you from death. And so we read. Let me show you
this in a couple of scriptures. First, look at John chapter 1.
John 1. And we'll pick up in verse 11. John
1 11. This is speaking of the eternal
word that became flesh. John 1.11 He came unto his own,
and his own received him not. And that tells us of our nature,
that's what we are. All of us by nature will not
receive Christ if left to ourselves We cannot receive Him, we will
not receive Him because we are born dead in trespasses and sins,
dead in Adam. We will not receive Him. But
there are some that do receive Him. How is that possible? How is it that there are some
that receive Christ? Look at verse 12. But as many
as received him, because there are some that receive him, what
he's saying is it's because to them gave God power to become
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. How do we
know who are the sons of God? They believe on his name. God
manifests His grace, His power, His glory in them by delivering
them out of darkness and receiving Christ. It's because God, it's
not saying that to those that received him, God then gave them
power to become sons of God. He's saying they receive him
because God to them has given them power to become sons of
God. He's delivered them from their
darkness. And verse 13 backs that up. Verse 13 says, which were born
not of blood. It's not because your mommy and
daddy are believers. God's going to save you. You're
going to be delivered by his grace and power by this gospel
just as they were delivered by his grace and power under this
gospel and the giving of his spirit. They were born not of
blood nor of the will of man, nor of the will of flesh rather.
It's not our decision that decides whether we're saved or not. God
decides whether we're saved or not. nor of the will of man,
that is, nor of our works and what we're doing, but of God. All of God's children are born
of God. He must be born again, Christ
said to Nicodemus. He must be born again, and that's
not something we do. We didn't choose to be born the
first time, and we don't choose to be born the second time either.
God does it. God brings forth his seed. and his people. The difference
maker is God. All right, one more, Romans 9.
Let's go to Romans 9, and we'll pick up in verse 13 first. These
are two twin boys that were born, that were together in their mother's
womb, the two that had done neither good nor evil. And it says, verse
13, as it's written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. God's saying, I blessed Jacob. And I didn't do anything for
you, so I left him to himself. I left him to himself. But for
Jacob, I blessed him. I drew him out of darkness. What
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, that's not of my decision or
my works, but of God that showeth mercy. In other words, God saves
his people according to his own good pleasure and will. And we
declare that, not to give you no hope, but to give you hope,
to turn to him who is able to deliver you, to do for you exceedingly
above all that we could ask or think. It's to draw out that
heart that says, help me, Lord, I can't save myself. I cannot
do anything to save myself, but Lord, you save sinners, save
me. Have mercy on me, Lord, have
mercy on me. Don't pass me by like Esau, but
save me like you saved Jacob. Have mercy on me, Lord, and that's
why we declare to give you hope, to turn your eyes away from self
and your own works, and to turn your eyes to Christ, to turn
you to Him whom the Father sent to save His people from their
sins. And His people hear that He is
all salvation, and He draws us, draws us to Himself. No man cometh
to the Father but through the Son. and those to whom the Father
brings them. He draws us to Christ. He brings
us to Christ to hear Him, to believe Him, to trust Him. And
then this is a great comfort. Now let me just say fourth. Fourth,
the testimony of our Lord is that this salvation, with all
its blessings, was given us, given to us, in Christ Jesus
before the world began. And what he's saying there is,
the blessed thing here is that the Father, in wisdom, put all
the salvation of his people, he entrusted it entirely to Christ
before the world ever began. The Father and the Son covenanted
together to save a people, to have a people for the Bride of
Christ. And He gave the whole of our
salvation, the whole, everything necessary, He put into the hands
of His Son. who willingly came in the appointed
hour, in the day when God had appointed it, the Son came, being
born of a woman, taking upon whole eternal God, taking upon
Him the weakness of this flesh, being born just like you and
I were, and grew up under the law, and fulfilled all the law
of God perfectly, and perfect righteousness for His people. And He went willingly and lay
down his life for the sins of his people to deliver them. from
their sins, from the wrath of God, from the justice of God,
and to give us life eternal by his life. To give us everything
was all committed to the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so our God, we rejoice. That's why we lay down. That's
why we rejoice in this testimony. That's why we're not ashamed
of this testimony, because it's a glorious testimony. It declares
our salvation, our deliverance. Let men say what they will. You
keep looking to Christ. Believe Him. Trust Him whom the
Lord has put in your heart to trust Him, to commit everything.
As Paul said back in 1 Timothy 1.12, and we'll close with this.
He said, for the witch cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed. I'm 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." Hold
fast that form. Hold fast to Christ. Don't be
turned from him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Amen.