2nd Timothy 2, our text will
be verse 19. Well, let's begin reading in
verse 11. 2nd Timothy 2, verse 11. It is
a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also
live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. If we deny him, he also will
deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful, he cannot deny himself. Of these things, put them in
remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not
about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane
and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. and their word will eat as doth
a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already, and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them
that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity. I would like to divide this verse
into two parts. We're gonna look at the last
half of this verse for our Bible study, and we're gonna look at
the first half of the verse for the morning message. I want us
to really understand what is meant by, let everyone that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Let everyone that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. What is naming the
name of Christ? And what is departing from iniquity? Because the end of verse 19 says,
let everyone, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ. Well, I don't know anyone who hasn't
named the name of Christ. Do you? You know anyone who hasn't
named the name of Christ? Is this scripture speaking to
everyone? We know that it's not because
the first half of the verse says, nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that
are his. He knows them that are his. So he's not speaking to everyone. And therefore, what I want us
to get from this is naming the name of Christ means something. It means something and it doesn't
just mean saying his name. Our Lord said in Matthew seven,
not everyone that says, Lord, Lord is going to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. And that that's amazing to me.
I think about this a lot. I think about how strict really
is the. dividing line of our God. Do you ever think about this?
What exactly does a person need to know? I'll go ahead and answer
that. A person needs to know Christ, really needs to know
Christ. But do you understand what I'm
saying? So many people are naming the name. Not, not everyone that
says, Lord, they claim the Lord. They give their lives to the
Lord. They worship the Lord. They promote the Lord. They witness
the Lord. Lord. You know, who, who, who is your faith?
Lord Christ. Not everyone that says Lord,
Lord is going to enter into the kingdom of heaven. So naming the name of Christ
really means something. It really means something. And
it doesn't just mean saying His name. Turn with me over to 1
John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. 1 John 4 verse 1 says, Beloved,
believe not every spirit. And I want to point out that
that's a lowercase s on that word spirit. Believe not every
spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because
many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know
ye the Spirit of God, capital S. Every spirit, lowercase s,
every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, And
this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof you have heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world." He said,
try the preachers. That's what the lowercase s spirit
means. Because he said there's a lot
of false preachers out there, a lot of false prophets. Try
the preachers to see whether they are of God or not. He said every preacher that confesses
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Well, under the Christian canopy,
I don't know of one preacher, true or false, who does not confess
that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. I don't know of one. As a matter of fact, I believe
you'd be hard-pressed to find almost anybody in the world,
I know there are certain religions and cultures and whatever, but
I believe that you would be hard-pressed to find Hardly any people in
the world at all that do not believe that Jesus Christ came
to this world in the flesh, walked this earth in the flesh. Does that mean
every preacher who says that is of God? No. No, it doesn't. And let me just
interject this. What this is saying, that's exactly
what it means. What is written right here, this
is exactly what it means. It's not that this is saying
one thing, but it means something completely different. When this
says, whoever confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God,
that's what it means. It's just critical that we understand
what that truly means. That's the point. Look at verse
15 right here, 1 John 4 verse 15. It says, whosoever shall
confess that Jesus is the son of God, God dwelleth in him and
he in God. I don't know one person under
the Christian canopy. I know a lot of people under
the Christian canopy who are lost and blind and they do not
know God because God does not dwell in them. But I do not know
one person who would not confess that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you think there's one church
in Kingsport, Tennessee that does not confess that Jesus is
the Son of God? Absolutely not. They all do. Does that mean God dwells in
all of them? No, it does not. That verse of Scripture is declaring
the truth. Whoever confesses that Jesus
is the Son of God God dwells in him or her. It's just critical
that we understand what it means to confess that Jesus is the
son of God. It's critical that we understand
that. I'll tell you that it does not mean he is God's son. Meaning God's offspring. We are the offspring of God.
Christ is not. He is not God's younger. He is
not God's lesser. He is not God's understudy. He is not the middleman between
us and God. If we believe that this man,
Jesus of Nazareth, is the one who can bridge the gap between
us and God, We have missed Jesus of Nazareth, and we've missed
God. And we do not understand what
this verse means. Look at 1 John 5 right here,
verse one. It says, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, born again, as people
say. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Let me just get to the point
on this one. Most everyone believes that his name is Jesus Christ. Most everyone refers to him as
Jesus Christ. But the problem for most people
is they do not believe that Jesus is the Christ. There's a big difference. They
believe he is Jesus Christ. They just don't believe that
Jesus is the Christ. There's a big difference. And
this difference comes down to man's word and God's word. What
man has to say about Jesus Christ and what God has to say about
Jesus Christ. What man thinks in his lying
delusion concerning him and what God has declared in the absolute
truth of his word concerning him. Look right here at 1 John
5 verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his son. He's believing the record that
some other man gave or that he his own self gave. But he doesn't
believe the record that God gave. Verse 11, And this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. In His Son. It's not in the law. It's not in the flesh. It's not
in man at all, this life is in his son. Verse 12, he that hath
the son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath
not life. Now watch verse 13. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the son of God. that you may
know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. All right, this will bring us
to our text. That was our intro. We only have
five minutes left. But this, does all that make
sense? This will now bring us to our
text. Go back to 2 Timothy 2. Maybe 10 minutes, I don't know. 2 Timothy 2, the end of verse
19 says, let everyone that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. Let me just say something about
that really quick. I'm not gonna take the time to
go deep into this, but that word iniquity boils down to one thing.
Unbelief. Okay, unbelief. Sin is sin. All sin is sin, iniquity. And our desire is to be rid of
sin. Unfortunately, sin will be with
these sinful bodies until we leave these sinful bodies. But our Lord said all manner
of sin committed against him would be forgiven but, except
for, the sin of unbelief, the blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost. That is the iniquity that God's
people actually depart from. That's the only one that God's
people, right here in the flesh, in life on this earth, that's
the only one that they actually do depart from. The moment they are quickened
to life, God's Spirit comes to them. This is the work of the
Spirit. When He comes, He convinces of sin, of judgment, of righteousness,
and He points everybody to Jesus Christ, and that's faith. God's
spirit comes to God's people and he brings faith to them and
they go from being unbelievers to believers. Unbelievers of
the truth to believers of the truth. They go from saying, I
don't believe that, I don't like what you're saying, to I believe
that, I like what you're saying. And you know it when it happens
because that person in that moment names the name of Christ. That person does not name the
name of self or name the name of religion or name the name
of the law. That person names the name of
Christ in everything that it means to name the name of Christ. What does it mean to name the
name of Christ? Turn with me to Matthew 1. Matthew 1 verse 18 says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph,
before they came together she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded
to put her away privately. Our Lord came in a way that was
shameful in the eyes of men and sinful, and in the eyes of men, it was against
their law. Had she committed sin in this
pregnancy? And she was to be stoned for
it. Our Lord came in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and it's amazing to me that he would
come this way. Verse 19, Joseph, her husband,
being a just man, not willing to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus." The name means Savior. HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM
THEIR SINS. Verse 22 says, NOW ALL THIS WAS
DONE THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED WHICH WAS SPOKEN OF THE LORD
BY THE PROPHET, SAYING, BEHOLD, A VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD,
AND SHALL BRING FORTH A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took
unto him his wife and knew her not till she had brought forth
her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. Now, this is what we just read
from God's word. Number one, to name the name
of Christ is to name the Savior. It is to name the Savior. The Savior. To name the name
of Christ is to name the Savior. The one who saved. It is to name
the Savior. I'm going to really hammer this
point for a minute, because this is what I don't mean. I do not
mean this. Yeah, yeah, the Savior. Yeah,
he's the Savior. I don't mean that. What I mean
is the Savior. He's the Savior. To name the
name of Christ is to name the one who saved his people from
their sins. Period. The one who finished the work
of salvation, period. If we name a Savior who did not
finish the work of salvation, if we name a Savior who started
the work and the rest of the work is up to us, if we name
a Savior who needs our permission and needs our cooperation and
needs our help, we're not naming the name of Christ. We're not actually naming the
name of anybody. A Savior like that doesn't even exist. A Savior
like that is no Savior at all. Paul said that's another Jesus,
but he also said there's not another. That's another gospel,
but there's not another. There's not another. To name
the name of Christ is to name the Savior. You know, I just
mentioned that hard dividing line. That's it. That's it. That's the line that determines
whether he is able or unable. It determines
whether he gets the credit or doesn't get the credit. We name the Savior who saved
his people from their sins. To name the Savior, to name the
name of Christ is to name the successful Savior. with no buts about it. You ever talk to people about
these firm, finished things, and they say, well, now, yeah,
but... And then they'll put anything
right there. Yeah, but you gotta believe. No, you will believe. Well, yeah, but now you gotta
accept Him. No, you will accept Him. You'll
be willing in the day of His power. Well, yeah, but I don't
care what no buts about it. He is the victorious Savior. He is the exalted Savior. He's not meek and lowly knocking
on people's doors. He's not a door-to-door salesman. He is the successful, victorious,
exalted, glorified Savior. Why is He all of those things?
Why is Jesus Christ all of those things? Here's the reason why.
It's because He is God Almighty manifest in the flesh. That's
the reason why. Emmanuel, God with us. God Himself. How many gods are
there? One God. And God himself is the
one who came here to save us. Who was born of a virgin? What
do you call, what's his name? Call his name Wonderful. That's
what it is to name the name of Christ. Call his name Counselor. Call his name the Governor that
everything sits on his shoulders. Call his name the Everlasting
Father. Call his name The mighty God. Call His name the Prince of Peace. God Himself is the one who came
here to save us. To name the name of Christ is
to name God with us. We're not looking past Him to
anybody else as being God. To say that he's just God's son,
is there a God the father? Is there a father of God? Yes,
thank God, we just prayed to him. Is there a spirit of God? Yes. But these three persons are one
God and to say that Jesus Christ is just God's son or God's helper
or God's partner is to not name the name of Christ. If we're
going to name the name of Christ, we're going to have to say without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. God was justified in the spirit. God was seen of angels. God was
preached unto the Gentiles. God was believed on in the world.
God was received up into glory. that was the greatest, highest,
most almighty God that there is. That's what it is to name
the name of Christ. It's to depart from unbelief.
It's to depart from man's lies on him. It's to depart from man's
false traditions concerning him and to believe on him in truth
for who he is and for what he accomplished in his coming. I pray everybody here, We'll
name the name of Christ and we'll depart from unbelief concerning
you. Amen.