Turn with me if you would now
to 2 Timothy chapter 1. We're going to slow things down
just a little bit. Our Bible study was fast and full. And we're gonna slow down just
a little bit and try to focus on something very important. We're gonna look at verses four
and five, really verse five. But let's begin in verse one,
we'll read down to it. 2 Timothy 1 verse 1 says, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to
the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy,
my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve from
my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day. Verse four, he said, greatly
desiring to see thee. We can enter into that, can't
we? That's what love does, it desires to see and be with the
one it loves. Greatly desiring to see thee,
being mindful of thy tears. Back in the book of Acts, Paul
left Timothy in Ephesus to be their pastor. Timothy was the
pastor of the Ephesians. And Paul here was desiring Timothy
to come to Rome to see him in prison. But he knew when he left that
congregation in Ephesus that he would never see them in the
flesh on this earth ever again. He knew he would never see them
again. And it says that they fell on his neck and they kissed
Paul and wept. It was a very loving, very heartfelt,
emotional goodbye. And verse four, Paul said to
Timothy, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy
tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance
the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy
grandmother Lois and in thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that
in thee also. What drew Paul to Timothy? He clearly had this great love
and desire for him. And what created that love and
that joy in Paul for Timothy was the unfeigned faith that
was in Timothy. That was the tie that bound them
together. Paul said, Timothy, that unfeigned
faith, it was in your grandmother, and that's the grace of God.
And he said, it was in your mother. And he said, I believe it's in
you. And you talk about grace, that
God would Fulfill His promise to you and your children, generation
upon generation. Lord, save us. Save us, our children,
our children's children. This unfeigned faith, that's
the bond that Paul and Timothy shared. That is the bond that
all of God's people share. That is the tie that binds them. That is what they have in common. That is literally what they have
in common. That is what brings them together. That is what causes them to love
each other. Unfeigned faith. Unfeigned faith. That is what
makes them one. That's what makes them to be
one. That is what they see eye to
eye on. That is their unity, their unity
of mind and heart, unfeigned faith. Am I getting my point
across? That's it. Unfeigned faith. That's our subject
today. I want us to see what that is.
And I pray that God will give it to us. I pray he'll give us
unfeigned faith. My goal for this message is to
expose what it is and to expose what it's not. And I don't want
to be flippant about this. I want to be very truthful and
factual. Boy, this is important. I mean,
this is the foundation of what brings God's people together. So let's look at the definition
of each of those two words, starting with faith. Okay, we're going
to look at unfeigned faith, starting with faith. Turn with me over
to Hebrews 11, where our brother just read. Hebrews 11 verse 1 says, now faith is, here it is, here's
the definition of faith. Faith is the substance. Do you have a center margin in
your Bible? That word substance means ground
or confidence. Faith is the ground. Faith is the confidence of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What things are God's people
hoping for? What things are God's people
hoping for? Really, it's just one thing. Really, it's just one thing.
To God's people, only one thing is needful. And that thing is
not a thing. He is a person. Jesus Christ, our Lord. In Psalm 27, David said, one
have I desired. It says, one thing have I desired,
but that word thing is in italics. It was added by the translators
to make it more readable, and I appreciate them doing that.
But David wrote, one have I desired. One. It's him. David said, I want to dwell in
his house. I want to behold his beauty, and I want to listen
to him. Can we say that? He is the substance of everything
we're hoping for. He is the substance of everything
we're hoping for. So what is faith? What is faith? Based on that verse right there,
one man put it in these words, and I very much agree with how
he has worded this. I believe this is one of the
best worded definitions of faith that I've ever heard. He said, faith is God-given confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that's the best definition
I've ever heard. Faith is. People are always talking
about faith. They're always talking about
faith. What is faith? Faith is God-given confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It must be God-given because
it cannot originate with us. There's no possible way it could
originate with us. Ephesians 2.8 says, By grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God. What's the gift of God? The grace,
the faith, or the salvation? All of it. All of it is the gift
of God. It is God-given Confidence. Confidence. Faith is what believes
God's word concerning Christ. Faith is what believes in Christ. Faith is what believes on Christ. And I've used this illustration
before, and I believe it's a good illustration. Right now, Mary
is pregnant. Okay, I believe in Mary. And
that little baby believes on Mary. That little baby's entire
life is Mary. That little baby feeds on, I
mean, that baby's heartbeat is dependent on her heartbeat because
her heart beats, that baby's heart, because she lives, that
baby lives. In her, that baby lives and moves
and has its being. Wherever she is, that's where
the baby is. That baby is seated with her. Right? Faith. Faith is what causes a
person to believe in Jesus Christ. Faith is what causes a person
to believe on Jesus Christ. Faith is what causes us to trust
Christ. Oh, if we could ever just trust
this man. If this man could ever become
real to us and living to us, and if we could hear his word
and trust it. Oh, for grace to trust him more. We just sang that. Faith is what puts all of our
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what causes us to believe
and be sure that Jesus Christ is who He says He is and He has
done what He said He has done. That's faith. That's what all of God's people
have in common. They believe He is who He says
He is and He's done what He said He did. They may be from different places
on this earth. They may come from different
walks of life. They may have different backgrounds
and different upbringings, but the one thing that they all share
in common is they have God-given confidence in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's a true, sincere confidence. And that's what the word unfeigned
means. Unfeigned. True. Sincere. As opposed to feigned. Unfeigned. As opposed to feigned. If something is feigned, it's
fake. That's what the word means. The
word feigned means pretend. It means counterfeit. It means
simulated. It means put on. It means acting. It is a disguise. It is a false appearance, okay? That's what false religion is.
Now, let me let me get to the heart of. What I'm trying to
say. False religion concerning confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is feigned. Concerning their
confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's feigned. False religion is a feigned faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It pretends, and again, I'm not
trying to be anything other than very truthful and very sincere
right now, because this is so important. False religion pretends
to have confidence in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But that confidence is counterfeit. That confidence is simulated. It's put on. It's put on. And I say this humbly, I say
this carefully, but they are acting. How do you know that, Gabe? By
their conversation. By their actions in their conversation.
Their acting. This is what is said in false
religion. It is said, we're saved by God's
grace. This is what people say in false
religion. Grace, amazing grace. We're saved by grace. It's God's
grace. They don't really mean that. They preach works and they believe
in and they believe on. They live and move and have their
being on their own works. Not God's grace, but their works. They say Jesus Christ shed his
blood and died on the cross to save sinners. This is what they'll
say. This is what they'll sing about.
He died on the cross and shed his blood to save sinners. He
died to save. They don't really mean that.
They don't really mean that. They go around telling people,
if you want to be saved, then here's what you have to do. You
have to obey the law. Well, that was always the stipulation. From minute one, that was always
the stipulation. If I have to obey the law anyway,
then why did Christ die? It was always said, if you'll
do this, you'll live. It was always said. If I have to come back and do
this anyway, Where does the cross of Christ fit into my salvation? Turn with me to Galatians 2. Galatians 2 verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. To say that our confidence is
in Christ, Oh, I'm a believer on Jesus Christ. I trust Christ. And then to turn around and put
our confidence in the flesh, that's feigned. That's feigned. That's acting. That's a false
appearance. That's what false religion is,
whether they know it or not. They're acting. Their goal is
not Christ. Their goal is holiness in the
flesh. Their goal is not Christ. Their
goal is holiness in the flesh. And they go around pretending
to each other that they have achieved it. They go around trying to convince
each other that they have achieved holiness in the flesh. And they
don't commit sin anymore. And they're pretending like they
are completely, totally living their life for God. Not me, not
my glory, it's all for Him. And they're pretending like they're
looking to Jesus Christ. But they're not. They're looking
to themselves. They're pretending like their
hope is in Christ, but it's not. Their hope is in themselves.
Their hope is in their decision. Their hope is in their baptism. Their hope is in their holy living. Their hope is in their church
membership. Their hope is in their tithing. Their hope is in their volunteer
work. Their hope is in their humanitarian
efforts. It's in anything and everything
in this world, but it's not in Christ. And therefore, it's feigned. It's feigned. But that literally cannot be
said about God's people. that cannot be said about God's
people. They have been given eyes to see the difference in
feigned faith and unfeigned faith, and they don't want anything
to do with feigned faith. They don't want anything to do
with acting and pretending. They want nothing to do with
it. They go around telling everybody, the only works of the flesh that
I have are sinful, damning works. That's all I have. There is no holiness in here. Not in this flesh alone. In my
flesh dwells no good thing. Can you imagine somebody going through false religion
saying that? They'd try to get that person
saved. That's what they'd do. I know what your problem is. No, I don't think you do. I don't
think you do. Oh, wretched man that I am. If Christ didn't save me on the
cross of Calvary, there is no salvation for me. I have no backup
plan. I have nothing to fall back on
but Jesus Christ alone. I have never obeyed this law. I've never obeyed this law. Not
to the dot of the I and the cross of the T that my God demands. Not in body, mind, and motive
like my God demands. Every good thing I've ever tried
to do was drowning so deep in the depths of sin, I know that
even my good deeds are utterly repulsive to God. He has never, not one time ever
been pleased with me in my flesh. Christ is the only hope I have. Christ is the only hope I have. God being pleased with me in
Christ, in the blood of Jesus Christ, in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, that's the only hope I have. I have absolutely no confidence
in my flesh. Well, aren't you going to straighten
up and fly right and turn over a new leaf and quit sinning and
be better and this and that? I really don't think so. I wish
I could. I would love to. I'm for that,
not against that. I love thy law. But I don't believe I will ever
be able to live this law until I am in glory with Jesus Christ,
completely rid of this body of death. God be merciful to me. God be merciful to me. I choose
Him, I do, but it's only because He chose me. If He did not choose
me in Christ, my choice doesn't mean anything, nothing at all.
I was baptized. He told me to be and I was. I
literally was. I was baptized. But that doesn't
mean anything if God's Holy Spirit has not immersed me into Him. You can get baptized and then
baptized and baptized and you just keep on getting baptized. But it doesn't mean anything
if God's Spirit has not baptized me into Jesus Christ, immersed
me into the blood of Jesus Christ, the death of Christ, the life
of Christ. I give my time and my money. But it's so nothing, it's so,
it's nothing, it's so little, it's so insignificant compared
to everything he's given for me. And it means nothing if he
did not give himself for me. All of my confidence is in Jesus
Christ. Faith is God-given confidence
in Jesus Christ. Unfamed faith is God-given confidence
only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only. That's what God's people
share. This is what we share. That's
what God's people love about each other. This is our true,
honest, sincere conversation together. It's our fellowship. It's our unity. It's our joy. It's our desire. This is what
brings me joy. That you have that same sincere,
honest, Complete and total confidence only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Go to Psalm 133, I'll close. Psalm 133. Psalm 133, verse 1,
it says, Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in one. That's what that word
unity means, one. One heart, one mind, one body,
one spirit, all of that being in one person. One person, behold
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. It's like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard
that went down to the skirts of his garment. As the dew of
Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for
there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. May God give all of us the unity
and the love of true, sincere confidence in and only in the
person and the work of Jesus Christ. Amen.