This evening we'll be looking
at verses 11 and 12 of Lord Willing, continuing on this matter of
the affliction of grace, the affliction, the grace of affliction.
The Apostle says here, Whereunto, talking about the gospel, how
that Christ had made manifest by the appearing of the Savior,
the gospel had abolished death and brought life and immortality
to life through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and
an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. And notice this, "...for
the witch cause I also suffer these things." And to bring you
again to remembrance, as we have seen in this chapter thus far,
the Apostle is stirring up this young man Timothy's mind regarding
his salvation. He's stirring up this young pastor
to remember his calling of grace. And isn't that what pastors do?
Isn't this what a faithful pastor is to do? Is to preach the gospel,
to continually preach the grace and mercy of God through Jesus
Christ. And by this, we stir you up to
remember. The Apostle said, for me to preach
the same things to you, is safe. That's good. It's safe. I don't
want to preach anything new. I want to preach what Jeremiah
calls the old paths. I want to preach the ancient
gospel. The gospel that was before the
world began in Jesus Christ. I want to preach this gospel.
And by this, what do I do? I stir up your minds. I stir
you up to remember the grace of God. that He has given to
you. I stir you up to this. The apostle,
knowing the suffering then of the affliction of this man Timothy,
encourages him not to fear, not to shrink because of affliction, not to shrink from declaring
the gospel, not to be ashamed of his preachers. He tells Timothy
of the affliction that they come by the gospel, He says, be a
partaker of them. So as I stir you up this evening
to remember God's grace upon you, I also stir you up to know
this, your afflictions are of God. Partake of them. Embrace them. They are of God
to draw you near to Him. You who are believers in Christ,
don't be ashamed of affliction. Affliction, either in God's people
or in your own lives. Be a willing participant of these
afflictions, seeing that only by the grace and power of God
will bring you through them. He said that to Timothy in verse...end
of verse 8, partakers of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God, the grace of the God. Therefore, afflicted
believer. Remember who it is that saved
you. Who saved you? We know God saved us. God called
us. Remember, God saved you. We were
not looking for salvation when salvation came to us. God sought
us out. Christ sought us. And by His
Spirit found us at the appointed time of grace and love. He cried out to our soul, Live! I say unto thee, Live! And you
lived. This is what God did for you.
He called us with an irresistible calling. For once we were dead,
but now we're alive. Once we were blind, but now we
see. Once we were in bondage to sin
and death and Satan, but now Christ has set us free. Free
from the law, O happy condition. Jesus has bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Oh, once for
all, sinner, receive it. Once for all, brother, believe
it. O believer, He has made us free,
and we are born again of the Spirit by this calling. With
the Word of God that was preached to us so many times, it did nothing
but seemed to harden our hearts until the time of grace, when
it came and it broke our hearts. And now we see what we were by
nature, and we fled to Christ. Remember, remember, don't forget
these things. Remember what God has done for
you. God also saved us by the same gospel that exposed us is
the same gospel that revealed Christ to us. We then that believe on Him,
we have fled to Him for refuge. Through faith in Him, we have
laid hold on eternal life. Believer, recall that our faith
in Christ was not based on our works or merit, not according
to our works, Paul says to Timothy. Remember that. May God stir you
up to that, because you're often, and I'm often, inclined to lean
upon something or someone, and we know that that's not going
to sustain us. Not according to our works God
did this. He did it according to His grace,
according to His eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus
before the world began. His callings and gifts are without
repentance. I like that. God doesn't just
change His mind. Have you ever had someone do
that to you? They promise something and you lean on it, you rest
on it, and then all of a sudden they say, well, I changed my
mind. God doesn't change His mind. God is always the same
yesterday, today, and forever. He is immutable. He doesn't change. So when He called you, He called
you with an eternal calling that's without repentance. Without repentance. A purpose to save us. And therefore, remember that
all things work together for your good. Go over to Romans
8.28, read it with me. May God, the Spirit, you who
believe, stir this up into your hearts during your time of affliction. Romans 8, 28, for we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. Who are they
that love God? Those who are called according
to His purpose. They're the same people, the same ones. For whom He did foreknow." Not
what He did foreknow, but whom. He foreknew you in a special
saving sense in that He put you in Christ. For whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that we might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. O believer, consider that all
things in the purpose and mind of God were decreed for your
good. Even your suffering, even your
affliction was meant for your good. What shall we who have been called,
saved, justified, and glorified say then to these things? What
shall we say then to these things? Paul says, if God be for us,
who can be against us? Who can be against you if God
is for you? What shall we say? If God be
for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not freely With
Him give us all things, all things. Paul says in the previous verses,
he said, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. That word reckons is important
because it's the same word for impute. How Jesus Christ imputed
His righteousness to us, even so should we count it so by faith
that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared. I don't care how great our sufferings
are. They're not even in the same league with the glory that
shall be revealed in us when Christ comes and receives us
to Himself. And now, Paul says, we groan. Do you groan? Well, I'm a groaner. I'm a complainer. I admit it. I know this about myself. I pray
God give me grace to overcome it, but it's just in us. We groan,
and some of us don't groan on the outside, but we all groan
on the inside. We groan within ourselves because
there's a struggle. In a true believer, there's a
struggle. There's a constant warfare. The
spirit that is new and created of God is always pushing against
the flesh, and the flesh is always lusting against the Spirit, and
there's a warfare inside of us, and we groan. What are we groaning
for? We're waiting patiently for the
adoption, which is the resurrection of this body. Isn't that what
we're looking forward to? There's a lot of things we got
planned, I'm sure, this week. I told you many of my plans.
But truly, that's not what I'm waiting for. I'm not waiting
for my plans to be made. I'm waiting for the adoption.
I'm waiting for the fulfillment of this thing, the conclusion
of the matter. I've just got a down payment
right now, but I got an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled. I can't defile it. Isn't that
great? I can't mess this up because
it didn't have anything to do with obtaining it, and I don't
have anything to do with keeping it. It's all in His hands. It's all in His hands. We groan
within ourselves, and then we are to wait patiently. Oh, how
patience, patience. Paul says about patience, he
says, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we also have access by
faith into the grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also. Knowing that the tribulations
worketh what? Patience. You want patience?
You gotta have tribulation. Tribulation worketh patience.
Not prosperity worketh patience. That doesn't work patience. Tribulation. Affliction. Suffering. You see what God is doing in
our afflictions is He is causing you to grow. How many times we
say to somebody, man, I wish that person just grow up. I tell
you, that's what God's doing for you. He's causing you to
grow up. Things aren't exactly the way you think they are. And
you and I need to grow. And how do we grow? Affliction,
tribulation, work with patience. And patience, experience. I have
experience in this matter, don't you? That God always delivers
me from my troubles. I have experience in this matter,
that God is faithful. I got experience in that. How
do I got experience? By tribulation, and tribulation
work in patience, and I wait for God to deliver me. I don't
wait like I should. Because I need more patience,
isn't that right? You and I need more patience,
so we need more what? Tribulation. Work in patience. Patience, experience, and experience
has what? Confidence. You want confidence. It comes by affliction. It comes
by tribulation. Worketh patience, and patience
experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh what? Not ashamed. Isn't that what he's telling
Timothy? Let's go back and look at it. He says that in verse
8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of his gospel, nor of me, the
preacher of the gospel. Believer, endure sufferings of
the gospel. for righteousness sake, for Christ's
sake, not looking to the flesh or to the circumstances for any
strength or confidence, but looking only to Jesus Christ. Looking
only to Jesus Christ. Now we know that in our flesh
dwelleth no good thing. Is that right? Is that true of
you? It's true of me. In my flesh. It was true of Paul. In my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. So then, are we to lean on it?
Are we to trust in it? No. No. I found this by my experience.
Every time I've leaned on the flesh, I've only found more affliction,
more trouble, not less. I often find more trouble trying
to avoid it than I do if I would just endure it. But we know this,
we ought to lean on any flesh or circumstances. Don't look
at your circumstances and see how things are going. That's not how it really is.
Even so, as with the Apostle Paul, so let it be with us. He said, Whereunto I am appointed
a preacher of the gospel, an apostle, and a teacher of the
Gentiles, for which cause I also suffer these things. Let us then, as the Apostle,
recognize that we suffer because of the gospel. He suffered because
of the cause of Christ, and so shall we suffer affliction for
the gospel's sake, for the cause of this gospel that we love,
that we love to hear. I know this to be true. Again,
in my experience and yours. Is it not the most difficult
time in the world when you get ready to go to worship? It is. It is. You have enemies, friends,
and these enemies are real enemies. And they will do anything and
everything in their power to stop you from affirming this
gospel. Do you realize that every time
you sit there, that you are affirming that this is the truth? that
you are testifying to everyone around here by your very presence
that this is the gospel. This is Jesus Christ whom I serve. I declare that every time I come
here. And you do too. You identify with this gospel.
You identify with Christ when you're here. And you're going
to suffer for it. You're going to suffer in this
life. They're going to hate you. This world will hate you. And
you will suffer for it. So then, let us find the same
strength that the apostle found to endure such suffering. Now,
we've not been chained to a Roman soldier. We've not been ready
to be beheaded before the Roman emperor or any other emperor.
We're free to come here. Isn't that right? Praise God
for the freedom that we have to be here. But yet, then let us find what
Paul used as his strength to endure such afflictions. And
not only endure them, but Paul said, I press toward the mark
of the high calling of God. I don't want to just endure,
I want to press. I want to serve my Master. I
want to serve my God. May God help us to find such
strength. And Paul says, nevertheless,
I am not ashamed. How can he find such courage,
such strength, such endurance in affliction? Notice what he
said. For, I like this, because. So if you see the word for, sometimes
you can put the word because. Because I know whom I have believed."
This is Paul's endurance. This is Paul's strength, and
let this be our strength so that we are not ashamed of the gospel. We are not ashamed of suffering
and affliction. This religious world, this religious
aid, believes that if you trust Jesus, that you should be free
from troubles. But we know that's not right. You see, they're ashamed of those
who are afflicted, aren't they? Well, man, if that person just
had more faith, they wouldn't be suffering like that. Isn't
that what this religious world tells you? If you just would
have more faith in God, you wouldn't be suffering. You see, Jesus
doesn't want you to suffer. That's their religion. They have
no idea who the real Christ is. They have a fictitious Jesus
who doesn't want anyone to suffer. Oh no, my friends, my Lord Jesus
reigns! And I tell you, He reigns over
my affliction as well as my joy and prosperity. The Lord Jesus
Christ reigns in these things. They say that there must be some
lack or weakness in you or your God. Well, hear then the cause. The
cause of Paul's strength and endurance. He said, I'm not ashamed
to suffer because I know whom I have believed. If you are trusting,
listen to me, if you are trusting in your knowledge because you
know the doctrines of grace, or because you know of election,
or because you know of sovereignty, if you're trusting in because
you can expound the deepest theology and the darkest mysteries of
Scripture, this knowledge will fail you if that's what you're
trusting in. This knowledge that you have
comes and goes. Seems like I've forgotten more
since I've become a pastor than I've learned. That just seems,
I really do feel that. The more I, I know nothing. I really feel like that. That
I don't think I've known much of anything. And so we don't trust in what
we know. That comes and goes. but rather we trust in who we
know. Altogether different. Altogether
different. We have a knowledge of whom we
know, not what we know and whom we believe. This kind of knowledge,
the knowledge of just trusting in doctrines and creeds, that
knowledge will fail you. during the fires of affliction,
but the knowledge of who we know and who we believe shall be like
gold tried in fire. It shall come forth more pure
in affliction." Paul says, I know whom I have believed. I know
who it is that saved me. I know who it is that called
me. Our salvation is not what, but who. Who has saved you? Do you know
who saved you? God has saved us by this one
Savior, even Jesus Christ. Him, I know. Him, I know. This is the simplest definition
and evidence of true faith is that you know whom you have believed. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Because to know Him is salvation. To know Him is salvation. Religion is reformation. Salvation is regeneration, a
new creation, a new life. And by this new life comes wisdom
and understanding. Jesus said this in John chapter
17, verse 3, This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. In 1 John
5, 20, he says this, And we know that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us understanding. See, this is what a new creation
gives us. It gives us understanding. Whereas we were blind, we couldn't
understand the things of God. Now, by the grace of God, we
see. We see and understand what? Calvinism? No. Election? No. He has given us an understanding
that we may know Him. That's what John says. He's given
us an understanding that we may know Him, that is true, and we
are in Him, that is true. Do you see the relationship?
Union and knowledge go together. If you know Him, you are in Him.
If you are in Him, you know Him. You know Him. This is the understanding
we have. Do you have that understanding?
Do you know Him? Go over to John chapter 15. I want us to see this union. See if you know this. See if
this is your testimony. John chapter 15. Jesus said, He said, I am the vine. and My
Father's the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth
not fruit is taken away, and every branch that beareth fruit,
He prunes it, purgeth it, cuts it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now ye are clean through the
Word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me and I in you."
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine, no more can ye except you abide in me. I am the vine,
and you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing." You who believe on Jesus Christ are saved by
His free grace. Don't you see that Jesus is the
vine? Don't you see that He is the
vine and we are the branches? Just as a vine has sprouts of
branches coming out of it, by which they're nourished and produce
fruit, even so are we in Christ. And everyone in Christ brings
forth the graces of God. of God's graces. God's the husbandman. He's the caretaker of this garden
of His people. And He removes those that are
professors, those vain professors, false professors who don't know
Him. He removes those. He'll take them away. But everyone
that He loves, who is in the vine, notice He prunes it. to
prune it, to cut it back, takes all the dead leaves off of it.
Why does He pull the dead leaves off of the branches? So that
they might bear more fruit. Don't let the... That's what
God does by affliction, is He burns away the draws. He takes
away the old. He stops us from trusting in
our works. And by affliction, He purges
us to trust more in Christ. The more we bear fruit, the more
faith, hope, and love, and every grace, and that we know Him, and that we
might know Him more. Which one of us does not need
to know Him more? Which believer in Christ is full?
Are you full up? Do you have everything? No, we
want to grow more. We want to know Him more. I know Him. But I want to know
Him more. I want to know Him more. Over in Philippians, Paul says,
I count all things but dung that I might win Christ and be found
in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is the law. He said that
I may know Him. Now, did the apostle know Him?
Yes, he said, he confesses in Timothy, I know whom I have believed. Yet he desires more to know Him. And it's by faith in Christ that
we may receive all of the nourishment of our souls if we abide in Christ. It's by faith. It's by faith
we grow in the grace and knowledge of Him. And we know that we cannot
abide alone. Isn't that right? I can't go one minute without
Him. I can't go one minute without
Him. I must have Him. I must have Him. Without Him, I can do nothing.
Without Him, there's no life, there's no grace, there's no
joy, there's no peace. Therefore, we who know Him, we
have this understanding. We also abide in Him, and He
in us. Why? So that we might know Him
more. I know Him, that I might abide in Him, that I might know
Him. That I might know Him, that I might abide in Him, that I
might know Him, and know more of Him. And for our comfort,
all who abide in Him by faith have this assurance. He abides
in you. Isn't that comforting? He abides
in you, and you in Him. There is a union there that no
man can separate, if you know Him, if you know Him. I tell you, if you were to remove
the most beautiful rose from its stem, how fast would it fade? And if you were to remove me
from my Savior, I know this, all the beauty and glory would
fade. I must be in Him. I must have
Him. Therefore, Paul reminds Timothy
that all his confidence, all of his hope, in all his endurance
of afflictions and assaults from the devil, the injustice of the
world, and the tribulation and temptations of the flesh, well,
this was his confidence, I know whom I have believed. I know
whom? Do you know Him? I know whom
I have believed, and notice this, go back to your text. He says,
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. Do you know Christ? Have you
believed on Him? False religion They have a knowledge
of Christ that is vain. And listen to me very carefully.
Some of you have a knowledge of Jesus that is vain. Empty. Doesn't work. You know about
Jesus. I could take every one of you
aside and I could ask you certain questions about Jesus that you
would know. You would know He was God. You
would know He would come in the flesh. You would agree that He
died on the cross. You knew that He was risen from
the dead. There are certain things that you are sure about Him.
But it's altogether different from knowing about Him and knowing
Him. If this is all the knowledge
you have and you trust in, it will not save you. All of this
knowledge is good and excellent, but if it is not mixed with faith,
it is empty." Faith. Paul said, not only do I know
whom I have believed, he says, I know whom I believed. Paul just didn't know Christ,
he believed Christ. And not only did he believe Christ,
he said, I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed. Do you not see Paul was committed? Someone who believes in Christ,
someone who knows Christ. I tell you, they're committed
people. They're committed. Lord, to whom should we go? When
Jesus asked his disciples, he said, will you go away also?
And what did they say? Lord, to whom shall we go? We
got nowhere else to go. If you know Christ and you believe
in Christ, you'll go nowhere else. He is my life. and therefore I'm persuaded that
he is able to keep my soul." Who are you trusting your soul
to? Well, I know who I'm trusting
it to. I have a good hope. I have a good confidence. Jesus
Christ, who died for my sins and rose again for my justification
and sits on the throne of glory. To Him I owe my life and breath
and all I have. I'm committed to Him. I'm persuaded. I'm sold out for Christ. And
so should you who know Him. This is not an option with us,
is it? This is all out. We're not playing. I'm not playing
church. I don't play church. This is serious business. And
I'm committed. And if you know Him and you believe
Him, you're just as committed as I am. You're just as committed
as Paul is. And I tell you, faith without
commitment is real no true faith, is it? If you were to have a doctor
who you knew could cure your cancer, you were at cancer and
you heard, you heard there was this great doctor and you said,
he's cured me. I know that this doctor is great.
He's got the right medicine. He knows what to do. What good
would it do you if you went around bragging about this doctor but
never went to him yourself? Oh no. I've been to Him. His name is Jesus Christ and
He saved me from my sins. You see, I know whom I have believed
and I'm absolutely and perfectly persuaded that He is able to
keep my soul in prosperity and affliction. Therefore, Paul says,
hold fast Hold fast. I remember watching this one
movie, it was on a ship, and man, this storm, and it was coming
in, and this old man had tattooed on his hands, hold fast. Hold
fast! That's what we do, we hold fast
to Christ. And we don't let go. But the
comforting thing is, He's got a hold of me. and he won't let me go. That's
who I know. Do you know him? Do you believe
in him? Then you too may find strength
in affliction. You might find strength to endure
affliction, no matter how great. How? By looking to Christ. By knowing him. Do you know his
character? Isn't he precious? Isn't he trustworthy? Isn't he altogether lovely? Isn't he able to save you? You bet he is. And I know this,
He will save us and keep us no matter what He sends our way.
Now you hold fast. I pray God bless this to you.
Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.