We'll open to 2 Timothy chapter
1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. I want to
look at a verse that we know so well. And I want to see why
that verse is there. 2 Timothy chapter 1 beginning verse
12. For the witch calls I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that
day." Paul wrote these words to Timothy. And he said, "...for
the which cause, because of something." He wrote this. I want us to see
why he wrote this. What this cause was that he was
so willing to suffer and to proclaim who his faithfulness was. Let's
look up in verse 7. 2 Timothy 1.7 For God hath not
given us the spirit of fear, but of power and the spirit of
love. and of a sound mind. God has not given us a spirit
of fear. The spirit given to the children
of God does not fear. Now we get nervous, this flesh
does, doesn't it? This flesh gets unsure, but we
don't have a spirit of justified fear. We have no reason to fear.
I know this flesh, I have plenty of fears. You make me go parachuting
or put a snake in front of me, I'll be scared to death. His
flesh does, but the new man does not fear. He doesn't have a spirit
of fear. But what is my new heart not fearful of? I'm not afraid
of bondage. I'm not afraid of being bound
to that sin nature I was born into. I'm not afraid of the curse
of the law anymore. Paul told us in Romans 8, you
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. My new man is not a child of
Adam. It's not a refurbished child of Adam with all its sin,
all its inability. I'm a child of God. And being
a child of God, being an heir of God, we're given some things
in this new spirit that is born of God. What are we given? He says there, we're given a
spirit of power. Of power. What power are we given? Being the heirs of God. I wrote
down phone books. Remember back in the late 80s,
early 90s, about the time of infomercials? They had late night
religious infomercials and them men would tear phone books in
half, like New York City phone books. I found out later that's
a carnival trick. That's not power, is it? No. We're given the power of salvation.
The strength to believe Christ. That's a power. So we've been
given the faith to trust Christ alone, to understand that He
is all and in all. But we've also been made willing
to come to Him. to bow to Him. We've been given
that gift of faith and the power to not only believe in Christ
but to come to Him believing Him. That faith coming power
to serve Him, to serve His gospel, to serve our brethren who love
Him, who believe Him. Turn over to Acts chapter 6. Acts chapter 6, beginning in verse 8. Acts 6,
8. And Stephen, full of faith and power, full of faith and
power did great wonders and miracles among the people." What was some
of those wonders that Stephen did? He preached to them, to
those Pharisees there gathered around. He told them the truth
of Christ. He believed Christ and the Lord
enabled him, gave him the power to preach to those folks and
boy did they get mad. They stirred up everyone that
would listen. Anybody they could get an ear of. They said, you
know what he did? He blasphemed against the temple,
this holy place, and he blasphemed against Moses' law. Moses might
have carried that law down, but that ain't Moses' law, is it?
Lord's law. He's the one that wrote it with
his own finger. Those things they held so precious,
their precious building, their precious law that they thought
saved them, that kept them shiny on the outside. And he preached
exactly against those things. He said, Christ is our high priest
and Christ fulfilled the law. And they got mad. The old writer
said, if you want to preach with liberty, pick a topic that everyone
is against and preach about it and you'll have all the liberty
you want. The Lord gave faith and power
to Stephen to preach those. And what happened? Look here
in chapter 7. Chapter 7, verse 54. When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their
teeth. They were cut to the heart. They
had a guilty conscience. All men born of Adam have a guilty
conscience. Why? The Lord says, My law is
written on your heart. You know the difference between right
and wrong. A guilty conscience is not a broken heart. That's not being humbled by the
Lord to come to Christ. That's just feeling bad about
yourself. When they heard these things, they were cut to their
heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, Stephen,
being full of the Holy Ghost and faith and power, looked up
steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing
on the right hand of God. Inward. These men were biting
him, about to devour him, about to kill him. He looked to the
Father. He looked to Christ. Looked above. Now outwardly he proclaims, verse
56, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of
Man standing on the right hand of God, not you. Christ is risen. He's on the
right hand of God. He ascended. He earned. He's in his rightful earned place
in glory. Then they cried out with a loud
voice and stopped their ears, couldn't take it, and ran upon
him with one accord and cast him out of the city and stoned
him." They stoned him because he broke their law, not God's
law. He broke their law, what they
added to it. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet. What was his name? Whose name
was Saul. Saul was holding their jackets.
They were sweating, they had stoned too many rocks. And they
stoned Stephen, while Stephen calling upon God saying, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit. That faith and that power now
came in dying grace. He had the faith and power to
look to Christ as he died. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. What power the Lord
put in that man. That was a complete act of love,
the love of God. And to one of those men that
was there stoning, Just as Christ had prayed, forgive
them, they know not what they do. And later we read in Acts,
the Lord saved some of those men that were standing there
crucifying him. Stephen was given the power to believe Christ and
to love his brethren. He was given that power to pray
for them, though he did not know that any of those was his brethren,
did he? Who's the electorate standing around that big circle
throwing rocks at him? I don't know, but I pray for
them. Lord, don't lay this to their charge. Saul was holding
those people's jackets. Learning, wasn't he? Getting the right attitude in
him of how he's going to move up in his current profession.
And Stephen prayed. And it was not laid to Paul's
charge. That was his brother, wasn't
it? Back in our text, we're in 2 Timothy. He was given the power
to love. 2 Timothy 1.7, For God hath not
given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love. We've
been given a spirit that does not fear men. We don't fear the
law. We don't fear judgment. We're given the power to look
to Christ who's overcome the world. To overcome the law by
fulfilling it. Overcome judgment by bearing
our punishment on the cross. and we are given the power to
love. It takes the power of God to love. To love God, to love
our brethren. It was an act of the Lord's purpose
and His power, not in Stephen's power, and His power that He
gave him that Stephen prayed for those that stoned him. Peter
told us, seeing we have purified your souls and obeying the truth
through the Spirit, That's where our obedience comes from and
that's where our love comes from. Unto unfeigned love to the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. It takes the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts to look past this flesh and to love our
brethren in an unfeigned way, in an honest, genuine, earnest
love. Love is the first fruit of the
Spirit. Paul wrote about there in Galatians 5.22. These are
the fruits of the Spirit, love. A pastor growing up told us,
love is the crowning evidence and mark of a redeemed man. That's
proof. That's true. If God showed His
love to a sinner, that love is going to burst out. Moses was
in the presence of the Lord, just in His presence. And his
face shone so brightly he had to wear a veil. I couldn't stand
to look at him. The Lord loves one of His children.
it's going to be evident. In this life, we know that, don't
we? If a mother and father love a
child, you got a little toddler running around, you love them
babies. I know, I can tell. You can tell
if a mother and father love a little child, and you can tell if a
mother and father is mean and hateful and full of spite to
a child too, can't you? Heart breaks when you see them,
you feel sorry for them. When God reveals His love for His
children in the light of Christ, love will be the spirit that
is in us. And that love is going to be
powerful. Because it's for men. It's His love. It says in verse
7, For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind. We have a spirit of a sound mind.
What is that? For a believer to be in a sound
mind, it means we are in our right mind. We're in a mind of
wisdom, looking to our Savior and not to this world. We're
of a sound mind. Solomon wrote, for the Lord giveth
wisdom. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge
and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for
the righteous. What's our wisdom? Let me ask
that correctly. Who is our wisdom? To be of a
sound mind is to be taught of God the wisdom of Christ. The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding that we may know Him that is true. This is
the true God and this is eternal life. It's His Son. And Christ
is our wisdom and God has given to us. We didn't earn it. We
didn't merit it. We didn't buy it. We didn't work
for it. He has given us not a spirit of fear, We don't fear the flesh. We don't fear men. Our Lord said
to His disciples, He said, don't fear men who's able to kill your
body. And after that, no more they can do. Fear God. That's
a sound mind. That's a right mind. to fear
Him. We remember that man that was
in those tombs filled with demons. The Lord came to him and He cast
all those demons out to swine and sent them over a hill, didn't
He? Those disciples come back up and they went to see what
was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom those
devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in His right mind. He wasn't crazy no more. We're
born crazy thinking we're sane, don't we? And the Lord comes
to us, brings us to His feet. He clothes us in His robe of
righteousness and puts us in a right mind, gives us a sound
mind. There's a difference between a narrowed mind and an open mind. Hosea 7 uses the word silly. It says,
we have gray hairs here and there, yet knoweth not. Some people
are grown. We're getting older. Death's
coming. And we ought to have some knowledge and we don't know.
Think we do. Act like we do. We don't know
nothing. It says Ephraim is like a silly dove. I looked that word
up. Three times in scripture the
word silly appears. It's in Job, Hosea, and 2 Timothy
3. And it means an open mind. That's
the best way to sum it up. An open mind. Carnally, in this
world, it's good to have an open mind with some things. It's good
to have an open mind in politics. Waiting for a gasp. It's good. It's good to talk to people.
In business, it's good to have an open mind. Folks work for
you. Here's how I want to do this. Does anybody have a better
idea? Some young new kid coming to start working for you may
have a better idea. Good to have an open mind, isn't it? Learning
a new skill. Here's how I want to weld something.
I got an idea. Let's do it. You may learn something.
That's why children learn so fast. Did you know that? Young
folks, they say they learn languages so much quicker. You know why?
They have an open mind. They haven't been corrupted as much
yet. They haven't been scarred as much yet. As we age, we get
narrow minds in all things, don't we? In our daily walk, just in
this world, it's good to be open-minded. It's good to be patient. But
in the Spirit, Not carnally. In the spirit, concerning spiritual
things, concerning the gospel, we need to be narrow-minded.
Not be silly. We need to be dogmatic, inflexible. That's what we need to be. That's
what the word means. Christ said, Enter ye at the
straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction, and there be many which go thereat. Because
the straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth
unto life, and there be few that find it." Don't be silly-minded. Be narrow-minded. How narrow? One man wide. Just like that
gate. Keep your eye on Christ. How do we get this sound mind?
How do we get this narrow mind that looks to Him, concerned
in the truth of Christ? Is it hard work? Is it diligence?
Discipline? Of course not. The Lord must
set our eyes and our minds on Jesus. He must give that to us.
He said in Isaiah 22, And the key of the house of David will
I lay upon his shoulder, on Christ's shoulder. So he shall open and
none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open. If
the Lord comes to a person and he says, let him go, pay no mind
of him. He closes their hearts and their
minds. He hardens them. There ain't no unhardened. And
if He comes to our stony, hard hearts, and He opens our hearts,
and He opens our minds, gives us a pure mind, giving His power
and gives us love to Him because He first loved us, there ain't
no going back on it. No man can shut it. We don't
have a spirit of fear because Christ is the power of salvation.
He's the one who first loved us, and He opens our new minds
to be set on Him. And He closes our minds to all
the dead works and all these things that our flesh just gravitates
to. Those things start fading. They aren't interesting no more. I don't care to hear it. I don't
care to be around it. Now verse 8, 2 Timothy 1.8. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. Be thou
a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Because Christ has done this
work in you, don't be ashamed of the gospel, Timothy. That's
what Paul's telling him. I know it's foolish to the wise. It's a stumbling block to those
self-righteous people. But David said their table is
a stumbling block and a snare. I know it's an offense to the
world. When you say men and women are sinners, that offends their
dignity. Graveyard dead. Dead dog sinners. Well, I ain't
that bad. Their dignity's defiled. When
you preach salvation is by grace alone, you offend their pride.
And that cross of Christ is offensive. It offends them. But that cross
of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe.
And those who believe, this gospel is not foolish. It's not offensive. It's not a stumbling block. It's
the power and the wisdom of God. We're thankful for it. I see
in Christ and His person and His work. I see how holy God
can be just and justify me. How He can be just and justify
you. I see the wisdom of God in Christ. Him providing Himself
a land. I see the power of God in Christ
and I'm not ashamed of that. That love that made it a necessity
for Him to do it that way. I'm not ashamed of His love for
me. I'm not ashamed of my love for Him, and I'm not ashamed
of my love for my brethren. Paul says there in that second
part, he says, don't be ashamed of the gospel. Don't be ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. Don't be ashamed of me, His prisoner. Paul was a registered felon when
he wrote this. Did you know that? Don't be ashamed of the Lord's
people, is what he's saying. Don't be ashamed to be identified
with them, whether they're good or bad. if they're doing something
good or bad. That's the Lord's people. Don't
be ashamed of it. It will take the power of God
working in you and love to give you a sound mind not to pick
sides whenever two brethren are going at it. We like to pick
sides, don't we? I think so and so's right. Pick
sides. Love both of them. Take up for
them. Cling to them. Cover their sins. That's what family does. It hurts the whole family if
that wasn't a gap. You just walk in backwards and cover their
sin. They are sinners saved by free and sovereign grace in Christ
just as I am. Don't put down your pulled pork
sandwich and go eat with them Pharisees. The scriptures say
that Moses, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures
of Egypt. I would rather be numbered with
among the people of God than to reign with those that blaspheme
him," is what he was saying. David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper,
I'd rather be a janitor in the house of the Lord than dwell
in the tents of the wicked. No matter how weak and poor and
frail God's people are, don't be ashamed of them. Says in verse
8, 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. Don't be ashamed
of the Lord that saved you. Don't be ashamed of his people,
but partake in the afflictions. Partake in the bearing of the
burdens of your brethren. in them and in the face of others. When it's just you and your brethren,
be partakers, and when the whole city's against you. Picking at
you, laughing at you, making fun of you. I ain't been here
long enough. I've been here a year. I ain't got to know everybody
yet. The town where I grew up in, everybody knew where I went
to church and they knew I went there. They knew my pastor. And
I caught it coming and going. Ridicule. Made fun of me. Just bear with them. There are
people who want the benefits of the doctrine. They want the
benefits of the gospel. They want the benefits of the
cross. They want the benefits of that blood salvation in Christ.
But they don't want to bear the afflictions and harassment that
comes with it. They don't want to bear the broken. They don't
want to bear those that claim are their brethren. Christ said,
if you are ashamed of me in this sinful, adulterous generation,
I will be ashamed of you when I come with the holy angels.
You confess me before me and I'll confess you before my Father.
That's what he said. God's chosen the foolish things to confound
the wise. He's chosen the weak things to
bring to naught the mighty things. He's chosen the things that are
abased and despised. Paul tells Timothy, you stand
up and you be ready to be our partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel. Prepare to be with your brethren.
Now in verse nine, here's that gospel that's so offensive. It
says in 2 Timothy 1.9, who hath saved us and called us with a
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. One verse is fighting words to
most people if they read it. It says, He hath saved us. Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation's
not something I do for God. It's something God does for me.
It's a gift He gives His people. The wages of sin is death. That's
what I earned. That's what I deserve. But the
gift of God is eternal life through His Son. He saved us. I heard people say, I got saved.
I didn't. The Lord saved me. I didn't get
saved. It wasn't an accident. I wrote
down, you get in a car accident, but you don't get saved. You're
saved on purpose. A car accident's on purpose too,
but you know what I'm getting at? He did it on purpose. You see these two words that
just sum up the gospel for us. It's the word substitution and
satisfaction. Christ took my place. He took
my guilt. He took my sin. He died in my
place. He died in my stead. He was my
substitute and the wrath of God that I earned, I deserve fell
on him. He was my substitute. He paid
a debt that he did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. And He paid it. He paid it in
my place. And the Father was satisfied.
Christ was my substitute and the Father was satisfied. How
do we know? How do we know He was satisfied?
The tomb was empty. Christ is risen. He's seated
at the right hand of God. That's how we know it was acceptable.
He was the propitiation. It wasn't an attempted sacrifice.
He was the acceptable blood sacrifice for His people. He saved us and
He called us. He called us by His Spirit. The
Father sent the Son into the world and the Son came here and
finished the work that God gave Him to do and then the Holy Spirit
calls us to Christ. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul said,
We are bound to give thanks for you always, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. He chose us. And
believe for the truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel. He called you by the gospel.
And it wasn't by our works, not by anything we did, but by His
purpose, His grace, by His goodwill and pleasure. Because he wanted
to. And it was right. It says in
verse 10, "...but is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Savior Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel." What was
made manifest in Christ? In the Lord. His purpose to save
a people was made manifest. in Him. To us, a promise was
given. For us, for our benefit, we're
given a picture of Christ in the Old Testament, and manifested,
revealed, completed, was the person of Christ when He came. The purpose of the Father is
to save a people. The promise of God to send Christ
was manifested all according to the Scriptures. He spoke to
Satan there in Genesis 3. He said, I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. And then he
told Abraham, I promised you a seed. In Isaac shall your seed
be called. I thought Isaac was a seed. Christ is the seed. That's what
he talked about in Genesis 3. He told Moses the prophet. He
spoke to Moses, the prophet, and he said, I will raise a prophet.
He spoke to Aaron, the priest, and he said, I will raise up
a priest like unto Melchizedek. He spoke to David, the king,
and he said, I will raise up my own king. That was all to us, for us. Christ
was manifest. There was the purpose of God
before time, there was all the promises given in the Old Testament,
and then there were the pictures of Christ to come. The Passover
lamb, the brazen serpent, the feast, the ceremonies, it all
pictured Christ. And the high priest, they went
into that holiest of holies. There's a mercy seat, and under
that mercy seat is a broken law. The high priest would take that
blood, take the hyssop and dip it in that blood and sprinkle
it on that mercy seat to make atonement, to make atonement
for the law that we broke. Now, do you think the blood of
a lamb of a physical lamb could hold back the wrath of God from
a sinful race. Of course it couldn't. That blood's a picture. Blood's
a picture of cross blood. The purpose, the promises, the
picture, and now the person. The one that hung on the tree.
He's our Passover. The one that was smitten and
afflicted. He's that rock that was smitten
and out flowed living waters. He's our Ark. He's our Mercy
Seat. He's our High Priest, our Atonement. He's our City of Refuge. He's our Righteousness. The person
and the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, has been manifested to
us. It's been made visible to us,
made clear to us. From Genesis 1 to the end of
Revelation. He's revealed Himself in our hearts, in power and in
love. What did he accomplish? He came. What did he accomplish? It says
there at the end of verse 10, "...who hath abolished death,
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel to
his people." In verse 11, Paul says, "...whereunto I am appointed
a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles." I
get to tell folks about it. All that wonderful gospel, who
Christ is, what He accomplished for our people, and it is done.
It's sure. I heard a guy ask a preacher
one time, I said, if you believe in election, God saved a people
and ain't nothing can be done about it, why do you even preach?
He said, that's guaranteed success. We'll call His people out and
they will come to Him. What a privilege. The Lord lets
me declare His salvation for His people in Christ. And I'll
suffer whatever I need to Even if I'm cast into prison, if I'm
made a felon, I will not be ashamed. I thought about that. Depending
on what year it is, I guess, in this state. If you're a felon,
you can't buy a gun and you can't vote. I was thrown into prison for
this gospel. I don't need a gun and I don't
need to vote. Don't need either one of them. Need Christ. Don't
need either one of them. So he's telling Timothy, he goes,
to suffer. Suffer these things for the gospel's
sake, for your brethren's sake. Telling us to do that. For us
to suffer for the gospel's sake, for our brethren's sake. And
Paul speaks of himself here in verse 12. He said, for the witch
calls, I also suffer these things. I'm not there with you. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed." Not what, I
know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. What day have I committed to
Christ? I've committed the day of my
salvation. That was of him. I've committed the day of judgment.
He satisfied judgment. I have nothing to fear. I don't
have a spirit of fear anymore. I mean, that day of atonement,
the day I was made one with Him, it was His doing. And any day,
from the day of my conception to my last breath, I commit to
Him. If He saved me, then I'm saved forever. If He's my righteousness,
I'm holy forever. And if He keeps me, I'm kept
forever. If the Lord does a work in power
and in love to the heart of a sinner, and you see Him, you don't see
a doctrine, you don't see a systematic theology and good ideas. You see Him, the person of our
salvation, the work He accomplished. You won't be ashamed. You won't
be ashamed.