All right, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to 1 Timothy. 2 Timothy, chapter 1. 2 Timothy, chapter 1. And we'll be looking at verses
8 through 10 this evening. The Scripture says, But 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, who has 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, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel." The title of the message this evening is, Eternal
Salvation Brought to Light. Eternal Salvation Brought to
Light. Now the apostle says in verse
8, Be not ashamed of the gospel, nor of me, of our Lord, nor of
me, his prisoner. Be not ashamed of the gospel,
nor of God's preachers. The book of Timothy, the second
book of Timothy is full of great encouragements to this young
pastor, to this the son of Timothy, according to the Spirit. He tells him in chapter 2 and
verse 3, Be a good soldier. Endure the afflictions as a good
soldier. The apostle Paul, finishing his
course, says, I have fought the fight, the good fight of faith. He says in verse 13 of this chapter,
Hold fast to the form of sound words. Verse 8 of chapter 2,
he says, keep the gospel in remembrance. Verse 15 of chapter 2 says, study
the gospel. And chapter 4 and verse 1 says,
preach the word. There's a lot of encouragements,
a lot of exhortations, a lot of words here given to the preacher
Timothy, yet they are definitely for us. These are encouragements
for us. Be thou a good soldier. Endure
hardships as a good soldier would. In other words, cast off the
things of this life and serve Christ. That's what he's saying.
Serve the gospel. Don't be ashamed of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Be strong in the grace that is
in Christ. Study the gospel of God's grace. Keep in remembrance the gospel
of God's grace. Are these not good encouragements
for every believer in Christ? Yes, they are. They're good for
us. And we who are believers in Christ, we are not ever to
be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
tells us in Luke, He says, if a man's ashamed of me, he's ashamed
of my father. I'll be ashamed of Him before
the Father. Luke chapter 9 and verse 26. Go over there and look
at that with me. This is very important. Luke
chapter 9, verse 26. Jesus says, "...for whosoever
shall be ashamed of Me," and notice this, "...and of My words."
There's no separation between the Lord Jesus Christ and His
Word. His Word. If any man be ashamed of me and
my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall
come in his own glory, and in his father's, and of the holy
angels." We are not to be ashamed of this gospel of God's grace. Not to be ashamed because when
we are tried, we're going to be afflicted by this gospel.
When we preach the gospel of God's grace in Christ, The Apostle
Paul here says that we're not to be ashamed but yet be a partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel. This gospel That is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone believeth. This gospel is going
to cause separation. This gospel that we preach is
going to divide the wheats and the tares, the goats and the
sheep. This is going to divide the Christian from the world.
This gospel is a very divisive thing. The Lord said, I came
not to bring peace, but a sword. What is the sword? It is the
gospel. The Gospel message is in and
of itself divisive. It's not us. We don't have to
be divisive. But when we preach the Gospel,
it will be. It will be. And the Scriptures are clear
that we're not to be ashamed of this Gospel. Even though we're
hated and rejected and despised of men, And we are ashamed of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of free grace in
Christ that saved us by the election of the Father, by the redemption
of the Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. If we are ashamed of that Gospel,
Christ says that He would be ashamed of us before His Father. In other words, if this Gospel
is not our Gospel, then truly we have no idea who Christ is. The Gospel is the message of
God's free and sovereign grace, and there is no other gospel
besides. This is the only gospel. And I tell you, when you preach
this gospel, those who believe in freewill works religion will
rise up against you. I do remember vividly the first
time I encountered this was in my own family. It was my extended
family. My wife had a great-uncle and
a great-aunt, and they were just the most generous, good-hearted
people. They'd give you anything. They'd
do anything for you. But I remember the time that
I had brought up about the sovereignty of God before them. They would
have reached across the table and killed me if those old people
could do that. If they could, they would have.
Killed me. I had no idea what to do. I'd
never encountered such hatred from these people. And the wisdom
of my wife's grandfather just to simply quote the scriptures,
not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but God that showeth
mercy. And they could not do anything with the Word of God.
They could not speak against it. And so when we preach this
gospel, when we declare this gospel, when we witness of this
gospel, we will be It is a hated gospel because Christ is hated
of this world. He's hated of all works religion. And notice this, that this gospel
that we are not ashamed of, that we preach, that we declare, is
according to the power of God. There is no possible way for
us, in and of our own strength, to endure any affliction for
the gospel of Christ. We could not endure anything
but for the power of God. But for the power of God. The
only way we're ever going to endure afflictions in this life
for the gospel is by the grace of God. It was by the power of
the Spirit of God that has given us life by the means of this
Gospel. And even so, let us study this
Gospel. Let us consider this Gospel that's
before us tonight. The Apostle is talking about
not being ashamed of the Gospel nor of his preacher because it
is the power of God unto salvation. If anyone is going to be saved,
it is going to be by the means of the preaching of the gospel.
This is God's chosen means by which sinners are saved. There
is no other means. There is no other means. It is
only by the gospel. And so we should consider this
gospel, and that's what I want to do tonight, which he tells
us here in verses 9 and 10. This gospel. Believers. are saved and kept according
to the power of God. We do not save ourselves and
most definitely we are not able to keep ourselves in the faith. And this is illustrated even
in the Old Testament saints. Do we suppose ourselves to be
above David? Or Lot? We are capable of any
sin. And so we pray. that God would
keep us by His power, by His grace. And the way we are kept
is through the Gospel. The Gospel message that refreshes
us, that gives us courage, that gives us strength, is the same
message that came to us by the Spirit of God and regenerated
our souls. And so, believer, the Scriptures
are clear that we're not to sin. And the Scripture says, Little
children, sin not. Is that not easy to understand?
Sin not. But when any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. We don't keep ourselves. We know
that we're to avoid sin at any cost. We're to put off the old
man and his deeds. We're to put on the new man.
But we know that this is all done by the power of God. By
the power of God. And only believers in Christ
will be able to continue to endure the afflictions of the gospel
and not be ashamed until the end. Why is this so? How is it
that you will endure by faith the afflictions of this gospel? How is it that you will endure
while others fall away, others go their way? How is it that
you, who are true believers in Christ, how is it that I, a believer
in Christ, will endure these great afflictions that trouble
us, that are constantly bombarding us? It is only by the power of
God Because our God has saved us. That's how. Because God has
saved us. Look at that. Verse 9. Who, speaking
of God, hath saved us? As we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and suffer affliction as willing participants, as we
live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,
As we are instructed by the grace of God, this world will be convicted. This world will be convicted when the kids play together. And you got a bunch of kids doing
something wrong and one kid tells on them, every one of those kids
doing wrong will turn on the one that told. Have you noticed
that? Why is that? Because they're
exposed. And when their sin is exposed,
the person who tells the truth is the one that gets all the
hatred. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ said
this in John 15. He said, If I had not come and
spoken, they had no sin. And as believers, we live out
the gospel and we preach the gospel to men. They are going
to be convicted. They're going to be convicted.
And they're going to hate us. But I know this, that regardless
of how men feel about this gospel, I love this gospel. Because I
have a great assurance of my salvation because it was God
that saved me. Not me. I did not save me. God saved me. And He saved every
believer. So all salvation, all salvation
begins and ends with God. If there is any man that has
ever been saved, if there is any man that is saved, if there
is any man that is going to be saved, it is because God hath
already saved him. God hath saved us. Salvation that is true and not
temporal is eternal. Salvation that is true is not
temporal, it's not born in time, but it's born in eternity. Because
the author of salvation is himself eternal. Immutable. Unchangeable. and all-powerful. God is the author of all salvation. It was God that purposed salvation. It was God who designed and decreed
salvation. This is why John calls salvation
eternal life. He said, and this is the record
of God, that God hath given us, what has He given us? He hath
given us eternal Life! Eternal life. Jesus said, I give
unto my sheep eternal life. Eternal life. And they shall
never perish. All the providence of time. Believer
in Christ, consider this great thing that God has done for you.
All of the providence of time. Think of everything that has
happened. Everything that is going to happen is according
to divine decree. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. From the beginning. Your salvation
was known of God. From the beginning. Why? Because
He had decreed it. He purposed it. He purposed it. You see, God knew who His people
were. God knows who His people are. Because He chose them from eternity. Salvation. that is of God is
only by the eternal grace of God and not in any way attributed
to us. No way. There is nothing in us,
nothing that God ever saw in man that would cause him or move
him to choose any one of us. The only Reason that God chose
any of us is by His own sovereign free will. God is the only one
that has free will. God is the only one. And this
eternal salvation is completely the work of God. Salvation, friends, is a choice.
It's just not your choice. It's just not yours. It's God's. If God will save anyone, it's
because He chose to do so. He chose to do so. Salvation
is the choice of God the Father. Blessed, Ephesians 1, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us by free grace. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ, according as He, the Father, hath chosen
us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. The sure foundation of salvation,
the salvation of God's elect, was set long before the first
beam of the earth was set. before the foundation of this
world was laid, before God said, let there be light, there was
God alone, and He chose a people for Himself. Salvation is not only the eternal
work of the Father, but it is the eternal work of the Son.
The Father chose a people. God hath saved us. It is the
triune God hath saved us. The Father hath chosen us. The
Son has His work in this matter of salvation. All that the Father
chose to save, He gave to the Son for the purpose of being
their surety. What's a surety? A surety is
a guarantee. The Lord Jesus Christ, in covenant
mercy, guaranteed the redemption of all those that the Father
gave Him. All those that the Father gave
Christ. He was as the Lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world. That doesn't mean that
Christ bled from before the foundation of the world, but this means
that He was the promised redemption. He was the one that would come
and redeem His people. And He guaranteed their salvation
to the Father. Eternal life God hath given us
was always in Christ. It was always in Christ. We were
given to Him to be in union with Christ. Go to John chapter 17. See our Lord's High Priestly
Prayer. His words are very plain. He
says, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, for what purpose that He should give eternal life
to as many as Thou has given Him. And this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished the work that Thou gavest to me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with
the glory which I had before the world was. Have manifest
thy name unto the men that thou has given me out of the world
thine they were and thou gavest them me and They have kept thy
word Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou has
given me are of thee For I have given unto them the words that
thou gavest me and they have received them and I have known
surely that I have come out from thee and And they have believed
that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. All mine are thine, and all thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world. And I have come unto
thee, Holy Father, Keep through thine own name those that thou
hast given me, that they may be one as we are. We are one with the Father. Why? Because the Father hath
given us into the hands of the Son, and the Son hath accomplished
all that was required for the elect. This is why Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh, so that He would accomplish the salvation
of His people. The eternal life that God has
given us was always in His Son, and it was purposed that Jesus
should accomplish our salvation. When was He purposed to accomplish
this? When? When did this take place? This took place in eternity. When the Father chose. If I can
even say the word, when? Because it never had a beginning.
All that the Father chose was from eternity. And all the Son
agreed to save was from eternity. And He promised in that eternal
covenant that He would accomplish the salvation of those that God
chose, that the Father chose. And this is why God the Son was
made flesh and dwelt among us, that He might be the representative
man and substitute." What two wonderful words, representative
and substitute. We needed that. We all died in
Adam. He represented us. We all died.
We needed a representative man to give us life. And Christ had
already purposed. before Adam ever sinned to be
our representative. And he promised to be our substitute
for every one of God's chosen people. What separates the Christ of
this world from the real Christ of God? The Christ of description. What
separates them? They have the same name, don't
they? Jesus, Jesus. Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ the Lord, we can say it all day long and it sounds the
same. What separates? Accomplished. That's what separates
the real from the false. This matter of accomplished salvation. Jesus Christ, our Lord, has finished
the salvation that was purposed from eternity. The Lord Jesus
Christ has finished the work. The Christ of this world is still
trying to finish the work, and He never gets to it. Matter of
fact, men, their Christ may be halted by man. Their Christ may
be hindered by the will of man. But our Christ is not hindered
by anything. Our Christ has already accomplished
salvation. He purposed to accomplish it,
and He has accomplished it. And in Him, Christ has made our
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He has made all
of those things. God made Him those things for
us. And by His one blood offering,
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, them that
are the elect of God. He, by His obedience, has imputed
the righteousness of the Father to every one of His elect. Therefore,
God is just and holy and righteous to forgive us all our sins. He's holy. The whole purpose
of salvation is that God might be just and the justifier of
the ungodly. That's the purpose that Christ
came to accomplish. That He might save sinners. Go back to your text. Not only
has the Lord purposed our salvation, the Father purposed it, the Son
accomplished it. But notice this. Not only did He save us, He called
us with an holy calling. The Father elected, the Son procured
the righteousness and atonement for His people, and the Holy
Spirit, the powerful work of the Holy Spirit is to call the
elect. To call them. Just as the Father's election
was eternal, in the covenant of grace, and the Son's salvation
was eternal in the covenant of grace, so is the calling of the
Spirit eternal. Go ahead and go over here and
look at it in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 30. Romans chapter 8 and verse 30,
moreover whom he did predestinate. There's the elect. Them he also
called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. All of those are past tense.
All of those are eternal according to the purpose of God. The purpose
to call us, the purpose to choose us, to call us, to justify us
and to glorify us is the purpose of God in salvation. It's the
eternal purpose. The Spirit of Grace, the Spirit
of God agreed to call us. He agreed to call us. The calling
of the elect was just as sure as the redemption and election. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out." The Lord is not going to lose one of His people. Now, there is a general call. There's a general call that goes
out every time the gospel is preached, and we say, believe
on Christ. If you've not believed, believe
on Christ, and you shall be saved. Believe on Christ, and you shall
be saved. Cease from trusting in yourself.
Stop looking at your works. Behold the Son of God. Behold
the Lamb of God. And take away the sin of the
world. Believe on Him and you shall be saved. Rest on Jesus
Christ alone. This Gospel call goes out in
a general way. I love that picture of the sower. reaches his hand into the bag
and he casts the seed at a venture. You know, really, I don't know
where this goes. I'm not picking and choosing and throwing seeds
into one hole or the other. I cast it at a venture. It goes
where the Spirit of God directs it. And then we know it falls on
different types. The stony, the thorny ground
here, the wayside here. And the only hope I have is that
God promises it'll fall on good ground. The ground prepared by
the Holy Spirit of God. If we believe on Christ, this
is not because of our works. It's not because of our will.
One thing about salvation is always a surprise. It is always
a surprise. No one expects salvation. No
one expects it. Think of the apostle, Paul. Do
you think he expected salvation? No. Surprise! Surprise! Do you think his teachers expected
the apostle Paul to be saved? No. Surprise. Even the disciples
of our Lord Jesus Christ didn't expect that. Ananias said, Are
you sure you're talking about the right guy? Yeah. Look at him. He's praying. Grace is always a surprise, because
I don't know where the Spirit of God goes and where He's going,
what He's doing. I know this, He'll save God's
elect. I know this, He'll save the ones
that Christ died for. And I know this, He'll keep the
ones that He calls. He'll keep the ones that He calls.
Our calling is said to be a holy calling. A holy calling. Because it was not from ourselves. If you called you, it would not
be a holy calling. If I called you, it would not
be a holy calling. The Spirit of God must call you. He must speak to you. He must
create life in you. It is a miracle of grace. that
is given to the sinner who is completely unaware of the Spirit's
work until it's already done. Isn't that so in your experience?
You who are believers in Christ, that's our experience. The Spirit
of God came and gave us life. I cannot pinpoint when He gave
me life. I can't. I can't tell you. I
know this, I have life. I have life now. I believe now. I trust in Christ now. Our faith in Christ is not because
of us. Your faith in Christ is not because
of you. It is a gift and result of life. When the Spirit gives life, He
gives faith. I was reading a man just the
other day, he said that a person can have life without faith.
That's impossible. The scriptures are very clear
about that. You can't have life without faith and you can't have
faith without life. It's the same thing. When they
come, they come in one and the same, life and faith. to believe in Christ. It is a
new birth. That's like saying you can be
born without breath. No. You must have life and faith. Faith is the evidence of life,
just as breath is the evidence of physical life. Faith in Christ
and life come together by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's
a miracle. It's a miracle to believe. It's
not the decision. It's a miracle. It's not a choice. It's a miracle. Scripture says we are called
with an holy calling, not according to our works. Praise God for
that. If my calling was according to
my works, then it could be my undoing. But it's not. Our salvation, friend, is much
older than our faith. It's eternal. But yet our life,
our experience, it happens in time. I would never say someone
is eternally saved unless they believe on Christ. I couldn't
say that to you. Because you have no evidence
of that unless you believe. It was never according to our
works, good or evil. Isn't that great? Our salvation was never according
to that. Or were we called according to
our works but only according to God's purpose and grace. And
it says that in the next phrase, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. And the only way that this is
revealed to us is by the coming of Jesus Christ who hath abolished
death. Now I want you to think about
that. You who are believers in Christ, think of this. Our Lord
and Savior has come and abolished death. Abolished it. This word
means rendered death useless. Useless. Powerless over God's
people. He made death to vanish away.
And if death is abolished, what else is left but abundant life?
If there is no more death, what is left but life? Life. Jesus said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And Jesus said that we should
not even die anymore. So when you breathe your last,
you won't die. That's not death for you. That
ushers us into real life. This mortal, tangible life is
not our real life. Our real life is not yet fully
experienced. It's waiting for us. Believer
in Christ, God hath given us eternal life. And this life was
manifest and brought to light. That's what the Apostle says.
And now it was manifest by the appearing of Jesus our Savior
at the abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light. To light. What does a light do?
A light reveals. You cut on the light and it reveals. When you cut off the light, does
your furniture disappear? When you walk into your house
and it's dark, do you think you could just walk around freely
without running into anything? No! It was already there. When you cut on the light, it
reveals what was already there. Our salvation was already there,
but it's brought to light. How? Through the Gospel. Through this message of eternal
salvation. My salvation was always by the
purpose and grace of God. There was a time, though, knew
it, that the light was cut on. God, by His Spirit, gave me life
and light to see His salvation. How will the Holy Spirit call
sinners to life? Only by the preaching of the
gospel. Not by dreams, not by miracles,
not by any powers or gifts of men. The Scripture says, 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. By grace ye are saved,
and hath raised us up together, and made us to sit in heavenly
places, in Christ, that in the ages to come He might show the
exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us through
Jesus Christ. For by grace you are saved through
faith, and that faith is not of yourself. Faith is a gift
of God, not of works. Why? Lest any one of us should
boast. All of grace. Salvation is all
of grace. And this grace began in eternity.
It was accomplished by the Son in time. It was revealed to us
in time. But friends, our salvation was
eternal. And this should give us great comfort no matter our
afflictions in this life, no matter our troubles, no matter
what comes our way. We should know this and be comforted
by this. We should take courage by this
that God hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according as He had chosen us in Christ,
by His purpose and grace before the world began. I pray that
God blesses to your hearts that He give us understanding of His
great love. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.