And what the Apostle does here
to Timothy, he encourages Timothy to do to the people. Look at this in chapter 1. Look
what the Apostle does. He says in verse 6, Wherefore
I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God
which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." See, the apostle
brings to mind, brings to Timothy's remembrance his conversion. He brings to Timothy's remembrance
how it was that the Word of God came to him and how it was that
Christ by His blood, by His righteousness, and by the Holy Spirit had saved
him. The times of the church in which
Timothy preached was a tough time. And I'll ask you, is it
not a tough time for the church of God? Are we not in such a
time? I tell you we are. I tell you,
there are people, even children of God, who are starving in places
of great prosperity, as far as the gospel being preached, as
far as the Word of God feeding, as far as enough to minister
to their souls, and yet how God's people have neglected the worship
of God. They starve in the midst of plenty. I tell you, the church is in
a tough time. The church is in a dark place
today. Just like it was during this
Apostle Paul's time here in Timothy. Consider this, that the Apostle,
the one that God used to set up the most churches, under whose
preaching thousands of people were converted. The apostle Paul,
the greatest of the apostles, was now put into prison for preaching
the gospel. He was put into prison. This was a tough time for the
church. The apostle, the chosen vessel
of God, was put into prison at Rome, and the church was in great
fear. You see, there were many. You
think of those thousands that were supposedly converted. There
are many now that are just jumping ship. They came into the church,
and they went out just as fast as they came in. They were jumping
ship. The apostle was in jail. Oh no!
What are we going to do? What are we going to do? And this was a time when false
religion began to prosper. When the apostle was put into
prison, those who hated the gospel took this as an opportunity to
exalt themselves in the church. You can read of many of these
people that the apostle writes about in all of his letters.
In matter of fact, in this one, he uses these two in verse 15,
Phagilius and Homogenes. These two. And there are others
who have subverted the, I believe it's in verse 17 of chapter 2,
Hymenaeus and Philidias. These two men subverted even
the resurrection. These men told them that all
the resurrections passed, you missed it. You see, these men
took opportunity to exalt themselves. And of course, Timothy was hurt
because this man, the Apostle Paul, was the one that he was
converted under. I'll tell you what, no man means
more to me than my pastor. The man that God used in the
gospel to draw me, to use to preach the gospel to me and convert
me, that man takes a great place in my heart. And I'll tell you,
if he was put into prison, I would be very upset. I'd be very discouraged. And so the apostle understands
Timothy. He says, I know you're discouraged,
but what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring some things to
your remembrance. to encourage you, to stir up
that gift that is in thee, the gift of faith, the gift of hope,
the gift of love. Isn't that what remembrance does?
Remembrance of what? These things, the gospel, the
gospel. So he tells Timothy, I'm going
to stir you up by way of remembrance. Timothy was fearful, he was afraid. Aren't we too often afraid? Is that not a good way to characterize
God's people? Afraid. It doesn't take much
for us to be afraid, does it? In the midst of these storms,
it doesn't take much change. You change one little thing and
our little boat seems to be overflown. Our boat just seems to shift
and to rock and we become fearful. We're like the disciples in the
midst of the Sea of Galilee. We're fearful and unbelieving.
Fearful and unbelieving. Are you troubled? Are you troubled? Are you weary? I tell you what,
I get weary. I get weary. I get troubled very
easily. This world to us is a waste howling
wilderness and we are but strangers in it. pilgrims passing through
and it becomes tiresome in this world. We become weary and faint
and we become fearful. Our Lord Jesus told us that we
should expect tribulation. We should expect it. And yet
when tribulation comes, how do we act? He told us it would come and
when it comes, what do we do? We're surprised. Surprise again,
here's some more trouble. What's wrong? What's going on?
Why do I have trouble? The apostle Peter said, Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trials which is to
try you as though some strange thing has happened to me. I'll
tell you what, I get discouraged and it doesn't take much to do
it. But yet my Lord told me these trials would come, and I think
it's strange. Beloved, don't think it's strange
that these things are coming. Our Lord said they would. See
then that neither Paul nor Timothy were exempt from troubles. Paul
was not exempt from prison and death, and Timothy was not exempt
from fear and discouragement. And neither are we exempt from
these trials. So then the apostle encourages
Timothy to remember the gospel of Jesus Christ. And even so
now in our text, he encourages Timothy to remind the people. Isn't this necessary? I'll tell
you what, I need to hear and be reminded of these things.
And when I hear and am reminded of these things, what am I to
do? I'm to remind you. I'm to remind you so that you
and I together can have confidence, assurance in the salvation of
Jesus Christ. What is the purpose of preachers
of the gospel? What is our purpose? Our purpose
is to remind you of things. I'm not here to tell you anything
new. I'm not here to tell you anything new. I'm here to tell
you what you already know. But how soon do we forget what
we already know and need to be reminded again? We are sent of
God. God sends his preachers to remind
them to stir up the gift of God that is in you. Peter tells us who are called
to minister the gospel, who are given the gift of preaching the
gospel, to do so as good stewards of the manifold gifts, the manifold
graces of God. See, I'm to speak boldly to you,
confident. Therefore, I'm only going to
tell you what I know. I'm not going to tell you what
I don't know. We speak according to the ability
that God has given us, that God may be glorified in all things
through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever
and ever. Go over to 2 Peter. Look at this.
I want you to see this with me, what we are called to do as far
as remembrance. This is what Peter says of his
ministry, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 10. He said, Wherefore,
the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. For an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things, that you know
them, though you know them, and be established in the present
truth, yea, I think it meet, as long as I'm in this tabernacle,
to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. You see, what
we are called to do is to put you in remembrance. To put you
in remembrance. of these things. Believer in Christ, is it not
incumbent upon us to make our calling and election sure? Is
there anything else that's more important? Is there anything
that would press us or anything that deserves our time and attention
as more than this making sure of our calling and election?
There's nothing more pressing to the believer. I desire to
know nothing But Jesus Christ, in Him crucified, I desire to
be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law. My desire is to be found in Christ, and Christ alone. You see, we remember that one
time we were fallen. Don't you, believer, remember
when you were fallen? Don't you remember that when
Adam died, that we died in him? But these who are the elect of
the Father, these who are redeemed of Christ and called by the Holy
Spirit of grace, we are called from death to life. And therefore,
we have an entrance open to us. What is that entrance? It is
the door. It is Jesus Christ who said,
I am the door of the sheep. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Let me
ask you, have you come to the door? You that were fallen, is
it not our experience that we have come to Christ, that we
have believed on Christ and through Him we have received the abundant
mercy of God? We have received forgiveness
of sins. We have received pardon of sins. We have received the
calling of the Holy Spirit. Is there any among you who are
great sinners in need of great mercy? I know all God's elect
are. All God's elect identify with
that. David said that. He said, For
thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.
Sinner, let not the greatness of your sins hinder you for asking
for mercy. Matter of fact, isn't that the
case? Isn't that the case we make before God? When we are
called by the Spirit of God, isn't that the case? We come
to God for what? Great mercy. Why do we need great
mercy? Because our sins are great. Our sins are great. I tell you,
if your sins are not great, you won't need mercy. Only those
who have great sins need great mercy. Only those who are destitute,
helpless, and hopeless to merit God's pardon need mercy. Therefore,
only sinners are made sensible, who are made sensible of their
depraved nature, sue God for mercy. You that were fallen, You that
were called of the Spirit to see your sin nature, were you
not called to sue for mercy? How then did God, who is holy,
pardon us? How is God, who is holy and must
punish sin, how is it that he pardoned us? He pardoned us not
because of who we are. He pardoned us not because of
what we've done. David sued for mercy and he said,
for thy name's sake, pardon me. For thy name's sake, pardon me. There is nothing in us that God, that would cause God
to pardon us. Remember that, believer. There's
nothing in us that would cause God to pardon us. Doesn't that
cause us great difficulty when we try to look within to find
a reason why God would pardon us? To look within ourselves
and try to find something? There's nothing there. There's
no reason why God would pardon you for your namesake. God pardons
for His own namesake. In Him, in Christ, is the righteousness
of God that the law demands that you and I could not provide.
It is in Christ. See in Jesus Christ alone that
all the justice of God is completely satisfied by His one offering. How many times does the apostle
say that in Hebrews? It once. He gave Himself once. In chapter 9 and chapter 10,
there's at least three times in those chapters that I can
recall that the Lord says He offered Himself once for sins. He put away sins by that sacrifice. And He so completely did so that
God raised Him from the dead. God raised him from the dead
and has given him a name above every name, the name of Jesus.
Every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. You realize that, that every
knee will bow. Does that discourage you that
there just seem to be few in our generation that have bowed
the knee? That should not discourage, it doesn't discourage Christ.
Why should it discourage us? He said, every knee will bow. I'm just thankful for God's grace
that caused me to bow now. There will be those who bow in
hell, but I tell you, every man will bow because he is Lord.
And as a preacher of the gospel, I beseech you in Christ's stead. Listen, be you reconciled to
God. If you're not a believer in Christ,
why is that? Why would you not believe Him?
Why would you not trust Him? His Word is plain. His Word is
clear. You are a great sinner in need
of great mercy, which He Himself has provided. Why would anyone
not believe on Jesus Christ and be saved? Believe on Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. This is the promise of Scripture.
This is the promise of God. Come as you are. Come as a sinner. Come now to Christ. Sue for pardon,
and He'll give it. Is that not a great promise?
O believer, remember when you first sued god for mercy did
you find it you bet we did and you know what ever since we have
sued god for mercy what do we found? mercy every time every
time the scripture is clear if we confess our sins he is faithful
and just to do what? to forgive us our sins, to forgive
us our sins. Come seeking the mercy of God
by the merit of Jesus Christ, and you will find life, because
this is the will of the Father. Remember, this is the will of
the Father which has sent me, Jesus said, that of all He hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, Everyone who seeth the Son and believeth on Him may possess. May have. I like that. I had to look that
up. Possess. He that seeth and believeth on
the Son possesses eternal life. Now, I tell you what, I've not
experienced eternal life. I've not experienced the glory
of God in the fullness yet, but I have it. Remember, believer,
you have it. Eternal life is something yet
future for our experience, but it's not future for our possession. It's given to us. He said, I
give unto my sheep eternal life, and no man shall pluck them out
of my hands. Have you come to Christ? And
there are three things I want us to remember. You that have
come to Christ, there are three things that are good for us,
especially in times of trouble, to remember. First of all, remember
your election of God. Remember your election. Consider
the great truth, believer in Christ, that our election was
of free and sovereign grace of the Father from eternity. You, you believer in Christ were
chosen of God by free grace, by free grace. Jesus says in
John 15, 16, you have not chosen me. Wait a second, didn't I believe
on Christ? Haven't I received the grace
of God? Haven't I trusted Christ? Yes, I love Him. Why? Because He first loved me. You did not choose me, but I
have chosen you. I have chosen you. In Deuteronomy 7, he said, you,
I've not chosen you because you were the greatest of people.
I've not set my love on you because you had more number than anyone
else. He's talking to the spiritual
Israel, the church. He says, I've set my love on
you because I would. I set my love on you out of free
and sovereign grace. We did come to Christ, but only
because of this election. We didn't come to Christ because
of the power of our will or because of the intellect of our mind
or our ability to understand the Word of God. We came to Christ
because He's chosen us. He's the first cause of all things. I like this story of a Methodist
woman. Once asked a man of God, and
she said, I know there's a difference between our gospel and yours,
and it's this matter of election. And she said, I don't quite understand
what election means. And the man of God says to her,
he said, well, let me ask you a question. Did God save sinners
on purpose or on accident? And she quickly, immediately
said, well, He saves them on purpose. And he said, well, you've
just said election. You've just described election. God saves sinners on purpose. On purpose. Romans 8, 28, it says, For we
know that all things work together for good to them who love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He should be the firstborn among many brethren. I tell you, many liars have gone
forth declaring that God's foreknowledge is something that He saw men
would do. The foreknowledge of God has
nothing to do with the actions of men. When you read of the
foreknowledge of God in the Scripture, a simple search will do away
with that. A simple examination of the foreknowledge
of God, when you look at it in the Scripture, it's always concerning
someone, a person, or people. It's not concerning actions.
Listen to what I just read you. For whom he foreknew. Not what he foreknew, but whom. Romans 11, 2, it says, God hath
not cast away his people which he foreknew. See, it's talking about a people.
It's talking about persons. In Jeremiah 1, 15, it says, Before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. What is he talking about?
He's talking about a person. Believer, remember, God says
that concerning you. Before you were formed in the
belly, I knew you. Now, what does He say to all
those who will not believe? To those who are lost in the
end when God comes and judges all men, He will say to them,
Depart from Me, I never knew you. Remember, now He's talking
about persons. I never knew you. Believer, are you troubled about
divine providence? Does divine providence trouble
you when you look around you and see what's going on? Has God seen fit to give you
a season of heaviness and troubles? Are your griefs too heavy and
your burdens too grievous to bear? then you should remember
God's election of you. Before there was any trouble,
He chose you. He chose you. He chose you to
salvation. Remember, He said to you, I have
loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. Oh, my soul, rejoice, for your
God has chosen and loved you and justified you even before
there was ever a sin committed. Is that not good news? Should
that not move our troubles and difficulties? It should. May
God give us grace to remember. Second, remember your Redeemer.
Remember that the election of God, that He that chose you,
not only chose you to salvation, but He put you in union with
the Redeemer, His Son, Jesus Christ. We read this in Ephesians
chapter 1. If you go over there, you see
how many times He says, in Christ and by Christ. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3,
it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Where? In Christ. According as He had
chosen us, in Christ, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him. In love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted."
Where? In the Beloved, in Christ. You who are believers in Christ,
you were not only chosen of God, but you were put in union with
Christ. What does that mean? That we
were put in union with Christ? It's what Christ said. You were
given to Him. Given to Him. In other words,
He accepted the full responsibility of your salvation. It's what
we call in the Scripture, what the Scripture calls assurity.
Assurity, I'll show you this quickly go to Genesis. This is
a type that the Lord gives Genesis and chapter 40 43 Genesis chapter 43 and verse
9 you remember how Joseph Sent the the man his brothers back
and he said you go get Benjamin and you bring Benjamin your brother
your youngest brother to me and or I won't see you and I won't
give you any food. But Jacob said, you're not going
to take Benjamin. And so it got so bad here that
in verse 9, Judah said this. He said, I will be a surety for
Benjamin. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not back to thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. You see what Judah did? Judah
said, I'll be responsible. I'll be responsible and if I
don't bring him back, let me bear the blame. And so he gets
down to Egypt and Joseph puts that cup, remember he puts that
silver cup in Benjamin's bag and sends the soldiers out there
and said, ah look, Benjamin stole that. And he said, you guys can
go on, you brothers, you can go on back to your house, but
Benjamin is going to stay here. And what did Judah say? Look over in chapter 44 and verse
30. This is Judah pleading for Benjamin. He says, Now therefore when I
come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing
that his life is bound up in the lad's life. And it shall
come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that
he will die. And thy servant shall bring down
the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the
grave. For thy servant, for I became
a surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him
not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever."
Listen to what the writer of Hebrews said about Jesus Christ. He said, for Jesus is the surety
of a better covenant, of a new covenant. Do you see that this
surety that Jesus said, I swear that I will redeem my people. Isn't that what the scripture
says? Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sin. This is not a matter of obscurity. This is not a matter of question.
This is not a matter of debate. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save His people from their sins and He did it. He accomplished it. He finished
the work. He accomplished righteousness
and atonement for our souls. Have you believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ? you did so because of the election of God you did
so you believed in Christ because he has accomplished your salvation Jesus Christ came in the flesh
and actually accomplished our redemption as our surety and how many of God's people
will he lose Will there be any he loses? He
said, I should lose nothing. I should lose nothing. How many
is he going to lose? Not even me. Isn't that wonderful? If you are in Christ, if you
are a believer in Christ, you should remember that in your
trouble, that your Savior actually accomplished your redemption.
He actually put away your sins forever. You know what? Your sins are so far gone that
God himself cannot find them. Jeremiah 50 and verse 20. In
that day and in that time shall the iniquity of Israel be sought
for and shall not be found. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
assurance? And thirdly, remember that the
Holy Spirit that called you will keep you. Remember that we were dead in
sins and darkness, but God in his mercy came to us and gave
us life. I'm so thankful for spiritual
life. It's not something I was looking for. It's not something
I was searching for. But one day God gave it to me.
One day God came and gave me a new heart. And I believed. And ever since then, I have been
believing on Christ. Why is that? I've seen many come,
and I've seen many go. I've seen people come and cry,
and I've seen people weep, and I've seen people troubled, and
I've seen people confess, and it seemed like they'd set the
world on fire. And then I watched them slowly,
over a period of time, just go away. What's the difference between
me and them? Why am I still here? Because
I am kept. the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, we're not going to get
any glory in this matter of salvation. We're not going to get one ounce
of glory for it. Who gets all the glory for your
salvation? It belongs to God. It was the
Father that chose us. It was the Son that redeemed
us. It's the Spirit that calls us and keeps us. How long will
He keep you? Will He keep you just until you
make that big mistake, until you make that big sin? Because
that's what we feel like. We feel at times that's what's
happened. We feel like God's cast us off.
I'm so glad my feelings have nothing to do with this. I'm
so glad the Spirit of God is the one that keeps me. That's
what Peter said to the elect. He said who are in chapter of
1st Peter 1 verse 5, he said who are kept by the power of
God unto salvation. How long is he going to keep
you? Until the salvation is complete. That's how long. So then believer,
are you troubled? Are you troubled with the circumstance
you're in? Then what should you do? Remember. Remember God's electing grace.
Remember Christ's redeeming grace. Remember the Spirit's calling
and keeping grace. And by this, you can know what
the Apostle says back in II Timothy. He says, nevertheless. I like
that word. Nevertheless. Don't matter what
happens. Nevertheless! It doesn't matter
if the world forsake Christ. Listen, the foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are
his. One day I may lose my mind. You
know that? It's close right now. I'm doing
a pretty good job of it right now. But one day I may completely
lose it and not even know my own name. Does that have any
bearing on my standing before God? Not one bit. The foundation of God's stand
is sure, having this seal. Not the seal that I know Him,
but the seal that He knows me. That's my seal. That's my assurance,
is that God knows His own. May God bless you with this.