Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
four. 2 Timothy four, I decided this
morning to focus on verse two. for our Bible study and to focus
on verse one for this morning message. I know that's a backwards
way of doing it, but that's how I felt led. I feel like I'm going to begin
with the, tone of a Bible study. I feel
like I'm approaching this in the same tone as an instructional
Bible study. There's something that I want
us to learn from this, but there's also a declaration that must
be made. a morning message declaration
that must be made. This is a very serious message. I felt like our Bible study and
this message are both just very, very serious, very important,
very serious. First, I want us to learn something
about what's said right here. If you look at 2 Timothy 4, verse
one says, I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's the Bible study portion
of this. That naturally sounds like two
different people, doesn't it? I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ. That is not two different people. That is one and the same person. That word and translates also as in also known as or another
way of saying that is The concordance says that particular
word and has a cumulative force. OK, it's it's building on the
same thing. The word translates even. God,
even the Lord Jesus Christ. It translates, indeed, God, indeed,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I therefore, I charge thee therefore
before God, indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ. Same person, same
person. Let me take a second and prove
that with the word itself. Look at Philippians chapter four. Philippians 4 verse 20, it says, now unto God and our
Father be glory forever and ever, amen. Many people do not think
of Jesus Christ as being God. Many people don't. They know
he's connected with God, they believe he came from God, but
they don't naturally think of Jesus Christ as being God, even
though he is. They usually, very wrongly, think
of Him as God's Son. That's how people think of Jesus
Christ. They think of Him as being God's
Son or the offspring of God, which He is not. Eternity did not begin with God
and then there came a point where God had Jesus Christ. In the
beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. You know that we read there in
John 1 in the Bible study, do you know what it goes on to say?
All things were made by Him, without Him was not anything
made that was made. Who's it talking about? Jesus Christ.
God said, let there be light. Who was speaking? Jesus Christ. So most people don't naturally
see Him as being God. But with that being said, I can't
imagine hardly anybody not thinking of the Father as being God. Everybody
thinks of the Father as being God. I would say most every Christian
associates God with the Father. But Philippians 4 verse 20 says,
now unto God and our father. Right here, it should be very
easy for us to see that's talking about the same person. That's
the same person, God, even our father. God, indeed, our father. God, also known as our father,
same person. Philippians 4.20 is declaring
the Father to be God. Our text in 2 Timothy 4 is declaring
Christ, the Son, to be God. And look at Colossians 2. I just
have to turn my page to look at Colossians 2 verse 2. It says that their hearts might
be comforted, being knit together in love unto all riches of the
full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of, now watch this, to the acknowledgement of the mystery
of God, comma, there's a comma there, and of the Father, comma,
and of Christ. Who's that talking about when
it says God? It's talking about the Spirit. The Spirit. This is declaring the Spirit
to be God. The scripture says these three
are one. And it says that all of the fullness
of these three, the fullness of the Spirit, the fullness of
the Father, the fullness of the Son, All of their fullness is
seen in the body, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
we ever see Christ, we will have seen the Father and we will have
seen the Spirit. If any soul makes it to glory,
that soul is only gonna see one God, Father, Son, and Spirit. So Colossians 2 says God and
the Father and Christ, even though they are three different persons,
this is also saying they're the same. Even, indeed. They are one. You say, I don't
understand that. Neither do I. I just declare
it from the one. Turn with me over to Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9, this is the prophecy
of Christ being born, prophesying of the fact that Christ would
be born, all right? Isaiah 9, verse 6, it says, for unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
full of wonder. His name shall be called Counselor. That is the Spirit, the Counselor. He will guide you, that's what
it says. He will counsel you. This child
that shall be born, His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Look at the next one, the Mighty
God. This little child, who is that
little child? That right there is the Mighty
God. Why is He the mighty God? It's because in Him dwells the
Counselor, the everlasting Father, it goes on to say, and the Prince
of Peace. Spirit, Father, Son, in Christ
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2. And we see that in 2 Timothy
4 verse 1, which is our text. Go back there to 2 Timothy 4.
Verse one. It says, I charge thee therefore
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick
and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Now in the Bible
study, I told you to put something in your pocket. And let me just read it to you,
okay? We were in Revelation 19 and it says, I saw heaven open
and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called
faithful and true, this is Christ. And in righteousness doth he
judge and make war. In righteousness, in correctness,
in rightness doth he judge and make war. All right, here is
our declaration of warning. We've had some Bible study instruction
on who Jesus Christ really is, who he really is. Now let's hear
the declaration of warning from God's own word. Verse one says,
I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall judge. I know this, like I wanna just
break. Let's take a break. Everybody,
let's take a break. I wanna be very candid about
this. I wanna be, I know this sounds old-fashioned. I know
this sounds, but listen, judgment is coming. Judgment is coming,
and it applies to the people in this room. I know everybody thinks, well,
that doesn't apply to me. It applies to the people in this
room. Judgment is coming. Oh, but I
don't have to worry about that. Judgment is coming. Nobody talks about it anymore.
Nobody talks about it. Everybody say every funeral you
go to, that was a saved person in that casket. Everybody goes
to heaven. Nobody goes to hell. Judgment is coming. And here's
the thing about it. Christ is the judge. Christ is the judge. I know that
people naturally think that he is everybody's best friend, but he is not. He's not. He's everybody's judge.
God loves everybody. We don't have time to go from
Genesis to Revelation to see how many people he said he hated.
That's a strong word. The scripture, one man quoted
another man. These are hard sayings. And God doesn't change. Well,
he changed. He softened in his old age. He doesn't get older.
He doesn't change. Everybody thinks that he's everybody's
best friend. He's not. He's everybody's judge. I know that people see him as
their co-pilot, but he's not. He's everybody's judge. I know that most people think
of him as their good luck charm or their get-out-of-jail-free
card, but he's not. He's everybody's judge. He is everybody's judge. Turn
over to 2 Corinthians 5 with me. Second Corinthians five, verse
eight. It says, we are confident, I
say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be
present with the Lord. Now that's who he's speaking
of here, the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Watch verse nine. Wherefore we labor that whether
present or absent, We may be accepted of him. You know, everybody
talks about accepting Jesus. Have you ever heard anybody talk
about that? Accepting Jesus as though that's a real thing. It's
not. That's not a real thing. Nowhere
in this word does it tell anybody to accept Jesus as their personal
Lord and Savior. Nowhere. Nowhere. That's utterly ridiculous. I
was here studying yesterday morning and when I finished studying,
I was leaving and I was finishing this message right here. And
as I was leaving, it had been raining and there was a worm
in the parking lot by the curb right outside the door. And I
had this in my mind thinking how utterly ridiculous it is
for someone to say that they needed to accept Jesus to do
anything for them. And I walked out and saw that
worm, which is what the scripture says we are, and I thought how
ridiculous would it be for somebody to tell that worm that worm needed
to accept me before I could pick that worm up and do anything
for that worm. I can pick that worm up and put
that worm anywhere I want to put that worm. I can keep that
worm alive or kill that worm. All right, well, this is God
we're talking about. There's an infinitely greater
distance between me and God than me and that worm. I am that worm,
but I'm not God. I am not God. And people talk
about accepting Jesus Christ. The question is not, are we going
to accept Jesus Christ? The question is, is he going
to accept us? Has he already accepted us? That's
what we're here to find out. Has he accepted us? Look at verse
nine. Wherefore, we labor that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of him for we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We're all going to
have to stand before the judgment throne of Christ. Mankind is
on trial. He and Jesus don't have a good
thing going. Mankind is on trial. and he's
on trial before a just judge who's seated on the throne, and
mankind doesn't even know it. Man doesn't even know it, and
he won't know it until he goes to stand before that throne. Man will go through this life
thinking, I'm fine, I'm fine, everything's good, and then all
of a sudden... At that moment, all of mankind
will realize who Jesus Christ really is. the holy and just
judge of the earth. And I'm telling you, they're
gonna be afraid. They're gonna be afraid. Verse 11 says, knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord. This is talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The terror of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, what do you mean the terror
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Never heard anybody talk about
the terror of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why the terror of the
Lord? Here's why. And I'm, you know,
part of me wants to just take you over to 2 Thessalonians 1,
but you read it for yourself. You read 2 Thessalonians 1. It
says, when he returns, everybody's, you know, he's coming, he's coming.
When he returns, this is what it says. It says, we're gonna
see him in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not
God. That's how he's coming back. So what do we do then? Hearing
this declaration, what do we do? Here's the answer. We bow. Here's the answer. We bow. We believe what this
word says about him. We don't look at these words
that have been printed on pages like this since long before we
got here. You know, this is the same word
from generations and generations and generations, and you go back
2,000 years, and then you go back 2,000 more years. We believe
what God has written. We bow, we believe what this
word says about him. We see him and acknowledge him
for who he truly is. We say in our hearts, I was wrong
about him. I had him all wrong. I had him pictured all wrong
in my mind. That's called repentance. A change
of mind. Repent. A change of mind. Beg, that's what we do. We beg. We beg him for mercy. We don't assume on him. You know,
God's people don't assume on him. We don't get haughty with
him. Why would God do that? When I
get to, I want to tell God, don't get haughty with him. We don't speak flippantly of
Him, we bow, we beg as the sinners that we are in need of the mercy
that's in His blood. We say, starting with this man
right here, I'm a sinner and I need the mercy that you have
provided in your own blood. We kiss the feet of the Son of
God lest he be angry. That's Psalm 2. Read it in Psalm
2. Kiss the feet of the son, lest
he be angry. And we say in our hearts to him,
Lord, our lives are in your hands. Our lives are in your hands.
That's what David said in Psalm 51. He said, have mercy upon
me, O God. I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin. I acknowledge that you can do
with me whatever you want to do with me. I'm a worm. Whatever
you do with me, you're just and right in doing it. He said, but
I also acknowledge that if you will purge me with hyssop, if
you decide to do this for me, if you'll purge me with hyssop,
that's what they used to take and dip in blood and sprinkle
on the mercy seat. If you will blot out my transgression,
if you will wash me in your blood, I'll be clean. So I'm begging,
I am bowing, I'm begging according to your loving kindness, according
to the multitude of your mercy, for your sovereign grace and
your sovereign mercy sake, for Christ's sake, wash me. Make me clean, I am praying,
I am begging, I am hoping, I am looking, I am waiting on you. That is the attitude that faith
brings to a child of God. That is the attitude, the attitude
of a humble sheep, a humble sheep, not a budding goat. but a humble
sheep, one that God the Father chose to save, one that God the
Son shed his blood for, paid that sin debt for and saved,
one that God the Spirit has given faith to and called and quickened,
given spiritual life to. After hearing what the word of
God has to say about God, about Jesus Christ, In truth, not what
man has to say about him in lies. But after hearing what the word
says about Christ in all of his absolute sovereignty and authority. As the fullness of God. After
we hear what this word says about his judgment and his holiness. After we hear what this word
says about His sovereign mercy and His sovereign grace in choosing
who He would save and in accomplishing that salvation in full, if we've
been given a heart to hear that and to believe that and to bow
to that and to beg Him to be included in that, then we've
been given the characteristic and the evidence of faith. That's
what faith does, and God only gives faith to His sheep. He only gives faith to His chosen
people. Now if we hear what this Word
says after we preach the Word, if we hear what it says about
Him in all of His sovereignty and all of His glory and His
power and His might, if we hear of His salvation being of Him,
you know what the Word says? Salvation is of the Lord. What
it says? It says salvation is not of man. It's of the Lord. It's his decision. It's his will. He gives it to whoever he was
pleased to give it to. He's God, we're not God. We hear
that from God's own word. If we hear it and say, I don't
like that. I don't believe that. I don't
bow to God being God. You say God really is God. I
don't believe God really is God. I believe I need to help him
be God. I don't bow to him having sovereign mercy on whom
he will. Sovereign grace on whom he will.
I don't want it to be in his hands. You said it's all in his
hands. I don't want it to be in his hands. I want it to be
in my hands. That God is not my God. I'm not
taking that God to be my God. If that's the case, then we don't
yet show the evidence of God-given faith, and we need
to be warned. Judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. Christ came into this world. All right. I'm almost done. Really listen to this. Christ
came into this world for one reason only. He came to bear the judgment
for his sinful people. This is the only reason he came. Every soul on this earth died
in Adam because of sin. I'm a sinner, you are a sinner.
I hate to tell you that. Every soul on this earth is born
into this world dead in trespasses and sins. A spiritually, you
got some physical life, but we're born spiritually dead in sin. Every soul on this earth must
face the judgment of God because all have sinned against him.
For that reason, Christ came into this world to face that
judgment for his people. Every one of his sheep, not every
soul in this world, not the goats, only the sheep. the ones the
Father gave to him, he said, for this cause came I into the
world. For this cause, to bear that
judgment. That judgment took place on the
cross of Calvary. That's where God judged his elect
people. All of God's elect people were
judged in him on the cross of Calvary. If you belong to him,
If you are one of His sheep, your judgment is over. Your judgment is over. If God
has given you faith in Christ to see Him in His Godhead glory,
and you believe on Him, and you bow to Him, and you beg from
Him, and you hope in Him, then your judgment is over. And because Christ has already
borne that judgment for you, there will now be no condemnation
ever to come to you. Some have already had condemnation
come to them. Some yet to have condemnation
come to them. By faith, the declaration of
this word. If God gives us faith to see
this and believe it, we can live justified by the blood of Christ
before God from here out, from then out. If the truth of this
word has been revealed, if we see it, believe it, love it,
it means God's spirit has quickened us and called us to faith in
Christ. Go over to John 5. John 5 with
me, I'm done here. John 5 verse 20. The father loveth the son and
showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater
works than these that you may marvel. For as the father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom
he will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son. That means fear, reverence, prize,
value. That all men should honor the
Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life, shall not come
into condemnation. Verse 25, verily, verily, I say
unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. All of God's people are gonna
hear his voice and his word. They're gonna hear the powerful
command from a powerful God. Live, spiritually live, spiritually
bow, spiritually believe, They're gonna hear that, and they're
gonna live. And they're gonna bow, and they're gonna live.
And they're gonna be free from judgment. Because the judgment
already came to them in Christ. Outside of Christ, every soul
that was not judged in Christ still has a judgment to come. So, while it's still called today,
This is how it works. God takes a message from his
word and he says, believe today. He lays it on the heart of a
preacher to take this word that says, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do it today. And it takes the
spirit to give that faith to make it happen. But if he gives
it to you, believe. If he bends your knee, bow while
it is still called today. Pray God will give all of us
a heart to believe, bow, beg, look, hope. It's the evidence
of our faith. Faith in Christ, our God, our
Savior, who shall judge the living and the dead, those in Christ,
living in Christ, those out of Christ, at His appearing and
kingdom. Matthew 25 says, in judgment,
he's gonna divide the sheep from the goats on that last day. He's
gonna say to the goats, enter into condemnation. To the sheep,
he's gonna say, enter into glory. Enter into the kingdom that was
prepared for you before the foundation of the world. Lord, include me,
include me. I believe, I bow, I beg. Include us, amen.