be focused upon our Lord Jesus
Christ. And really, if you add these
two times together, that's all the time. He said the first one
is in days of happiness, joy, prosperity, when things are going
wonderful. He said we need to remember our
salvation is all in Christ. And as he wrote those words,
as I read those words, I was thinking about the 70 men that
our Lord Jesus sent out to preach the gospel two by two. And they
went out and he gave them unusual gifts. They could cast devils
out of people. They could heal the sick. And
they enjoyed great success in their ministry. And they came
back to the Lord. And of course, he who knows all
things, who reads our hearts as if they were open books, he
detected their boasting in all that they had accomplished. He
said, I saw Satan fall from heaven. I saw your success. But he said,
don't rejoice in that. But rather rejoice in this, that
your names are written down in heaven. Rejoice that you're the
children of God. Rejoice that he adopted you into
your family. You see, if things are going
well for you, and I hope they are, I hope right now you're
on a smooth path with no speed bumps. Of course, they can sneak
up on you pretty fast. But I hope things are going well
with you. And as things are going well
with you, don't forget By whose grace you're saved. Don't forget
who wrote your name down in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's wonderful
to be happy and to be thankful for the physical mercies that
we enjoy every day, but there are mercies way more important
than that. There are eternal mercies. That
we're predestinated under the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ unto himself. That we were chosen in the election
of grace. God chose a remnant of Adam's
race to be his own. And that before we did anything
good or bad, he adopted us into his family, chose us unto salvation. And so if things are going your
way and you're all happy right now, that's great. I'm thankful
for that. But don't forget who you are. And don't forget who has brought
you into his family. Don't forget who put your sins
away. Don't forget who gave you a perfect
standing before God, our Lord Jesus Christ, in his cross, death,
and resurrection. And then Mr. Spurgeon said, there's
a second time that we need to remember that all things are
in Christ, we're saved by grace, He said, that's in times of affliction. He said this, in times of prosperity,
in times when things are going well, that seems to promote a
sense of arrogance or pride within us. And he said, when things
are going as we estimate, when things are going wrong, when
life is difficult, when sickness or illness or disease or troubles
or afflictions of any kind arise. He said that's when we tend to
get down in the dumps. But when we're down in the dumps,
even as when we're in prosperity, we need to remember by whose
grace we're saved. And I said all of that to say
this, in this passage of scripture, which is the last epistle that
Paul wrote, he's on death row. He's in Rome and he's in prison. And the executioner, as it were,
was at the door. You talking about afflictions,
this man had his He had multiplied afflictions. But he found great
comfort in the midst of his afflictions, and the comfort was not in his
surroundings. I mean, he's chained to a soldier.
Now, his freedom has been taken away. He's got it rough. But he remembers Whose He is. Who bought Him. Who paid for
His salvation. And He's fully persuaded. He's
fully persuaded that in committing His soul to the Lord Jesus Christ,
which is the most precious treasure anybody has got, your soul. He
was fully persuaded that all will be well, right up to and
including that final day of death and judgment. All is well. You see, the Jews hated Paul
because he attacked their religion, which was a religion of works.
A religion of keeping the law of God. A religion of live right
and God will reward you with heaven. And now Paul, he goes
against that. And in other passages he says
things like, not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy he has saved us. And that made the
Jews angry. He preached Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, and the Jews hated Jesus of Nazareth. And Paul said,
He's the Son of God as evidenced by His resurrection. He says
that in Romans chapter 1. And the Jews wanted nothing to
do with Him. They had Him arrested. They would
have killed him a few years before this, but it wasn't in the purpose
of God. But now his life is dwindling
down to just a few days. And he knows something about
afflictions. But he finds his comfort in this. He's persuaded. He has this confidence
in his heart that the one to whom he committed himself as
it were a locked stock and barrel, the Lord Jesus Christ would keep
him safe through death, through the judgment and into eternity. Christ is his confidence. He
looked to Christ for everything. And I also got to thinking about
this before I go further in the message here. You know, lots
of times I've heard the gospel preached. I've heard the truth
preached. But we as preachers need to make
sure that folks know something about that which Christ has done, how
does it become mine? How does this salvation make
its way to me? I'm not floating down through
the river of life like a dead dog. How do I participate in this
salvation? And here's how. Look to Christ
Jesus for all things. Believe on Him. That's what we
want to tell people. I listened to a message not long
ago on the internet, and everything the preacher said was true, but
this thought came to my mind, and I hope that in my messages
I make this clear. But the thought that came to
my mind was, you're telling the truth, but point people to Christ. Don't just tell us all that He
did, but tell us to look to Him, because He's the only Savior. I know that's necessary. We're
not fatalists. We believe God. And we're to
preach His Word. and be faithful in challenging
people to evaluate the rock upon which you're building all of
your hopes. Here's what Paul says, I've committed
unto Him. I've made a commitment. Ah, that's
necessary. I've made a commitment to Christ
Jesus. all that I am, and all I ever
hoped to be. Lord, I depend upon you. I just
cast myself on you. God help us to do that. This epistle was written primarily
to encourage Timothy to remain loyal and faithful as the servant
of God. The apostle, led by the Spirit
of God, no doubt, he writes to a dear friend. He writes to a
fellow laborer in the gospel. He writes to one whom Paul calls
my son in the faith. He writes to encourage him to
remain steadfast in the faith in the midst of trials and afflictions
and opposition. Those preachers back then, they
didn't have it like preachers like we have today. Paul's in prison, the saints
of God meeting in caves, children, wives fearful for their
lives, standing for the gospel. And Paul writes to Timothy, says,
remain steadfast now. And he asked no more of Timothy
than he himself had done. See, he remained steadfast. Said,
Timothy, I'm not asking you to do anything that I haven't done.
Take a stand, take a stand. I'll tell you, in this world
today, you kind of appreciate somebody who'll take a stand
for something, for something, instead of being wishy-washy,
just going with the tide, going with the flow. Our Lord asked the Pharisees,
he said, John the Baptist, who do you think is going out to
sea? A reed blowing in the wind? Somebody
just blows with the opinions of men. He said, not my servant. That's why he told Timothy over
in chapter four, he said, preach the word, be instant. What did
he say? In season, out of season. You preach the Word, you preach
the Word, the incarnate Word, Christ Jesus, and His work of
redemption, and you preach the written Word when they wanna
hear it and when they don't wanna hear it. When it's in season,
when it's out of season. You just keep on preaching. Because that's what He did. Look
in chapter two in verse 10. In fact, look at verse 9, chapter
2, verse 9. He says, for the gospel's sake,
that is, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure all things
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. I suffer patiently. I suffer calmly. Whatever the
Lord is pleased to send my way. Look at what he has to say in
chapter three, verse 11. In fact, verse 10 and 11, he
says, but thou hast fully known my doctrine. Chapter 3, verse
10 now. But thou hast fully known my
doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity,
patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch,
at Iconium, at Lystra, which persecutions I endured. But out of them all the Lord
delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus, Timothy, and I put that in there because he's
writing to him, shall suffer persecution. And it says, but
evil men and seducers, imposters, shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived. But you continue in the things
which thou hast learned. and has been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast
known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus." Timothy,
I have suffered. I bore patiently the afflictions. You do the same thing. Look back
to chapter two, verse three. He says this to Timothy. He says,
thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Hardness. We don't like hardness,
we like easiness. That's what we like. We like
things to go easy, not hard. But he says, you endure it as
a good soldier. Go forth faithfully preaching
the gospel. Look what he says over in chapter
four. And remember, he's writing to
a young preacher now, in chapter four, verse five. He says, but
watch thou in all things, endure afflictions. He didn't say, you're
gonna have it easy now, Timothy. Oh, endure them. Do the work of an evangelist.
Make full proof of thy ministry. And I say to all of you who are
the people of God and to those people of God who are watching, endure afflictions. They're appointed
to us. I know life can become very difficult. but endure them as a soldier
of the cross. Endure them because of who sends
them. There is no affliction that has
ever touched you that did not come from the hands of your heavenly
Father. Endure them patiently. And remember
this, and we're gonna In a few minutes, we're gonna close the
service by singing a song based upon Romans 8, 28. Remember this, all things work
together, together for good, for good to them who love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. So whatever it
is, perhaps there's an affliction that you're going through now,
someone who's watching. The afflictions will work together
with everything else to make a full and complete and perfect
life for you. That's the wisdom of our God. And that's why Paul says, if
you go back to chapter one now, he says in verse eight, he says,
don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Don't be ashamed
of the gospel of our Lord. And don't be ashamed of me, his
prisoner. I said, do you know that preacher
who's in prison up there on death row? Well, Is it going to get me in
trouble if I say I do? I hope that Timothy said, he's
my father in salvation. I learned the gospel from that
man. Paul says, don't be ashamed,
but be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. And I've heard people say this,
I can't go through this anymore. By the power of God, you can. In that message I was reading
yesterday from Mr. Spurgeon, he said there was a
lady in his congregation, her name was Betty. He said she was
just the best lady. She's all time taking food to
the sick and making soup and things like that. Always busy. She said that's what God called
her to do. Spurgeon said she loved the gospel. He loved to
preach to her. Dear Betty. He said, but then
dear Betty got sick. And Mrs. Spurgeon went to see
her because she wasn't able to come to the tabernacle anymore. He said, Sister Betty, how are
you doing? She said, I'm doing quite well.
She said, the same Lord who led me to prepare soup and visit
and things like that, He has now called on me to lay here
and cough. So I lay here and cough for the
glory of my Lord, because that's what's best for me. God give
me that kind of attitude. God help me to lay there and
cough for his glory, if that's what he calls me to do. Paul says, Timothy, don't be
ashamed. Bear up unto the afflictions. You'll be a partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel is what he's telling Timothy. He says, according to the power
of God, God who saved us. Verses 9 and 10, here is a summation
of the gospel. Who hath saved us, past tense, and called us with unholy calling. Now Paul, you got that backwards.
He called us and then He saved us. No, He got it exactly right. He saved us in eternity in the
covenant of grace that you prayed about back there in the office
a while ago. He saved us then. All things were fulfilled in
the mind and purpose of God in eternity past. Through our Savior,
we have already been redeemed, bought, made children of God,
made the righteousness of God in him. He saved us. I decided I'd read John Wesley's
thoughts on this. John Wesley, he interpreted this,
who have saved us, parentheses, by faith. By faith. Well, I know God brings
us to faith, but what he's talking about, according to the last
few words of verse nine, is something that happened before the world
began. I wouldn't believe him then. I wasn't even around then. He saved us then, he saved us
before time, and he called us in time by the gospel. And he did according to his own
purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ before the world
began. But it says in verse 10, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death. He has abolished death. Our dear friend, brother Al Meek,
He passed away a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't death, because
Christ abolished death. His body just fell asleep. Fell asleep. That body will be
awakened one day when Christ comes back. Our Savior abolished
death. God's people don't die. Go to
sleep. and he hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel which we preach. And Paul says, whereunto that
is unto that gospel, I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and
a teacher of the Gentiles. He didn't appoint himself. Look back up in verse 1. Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, by whose will? What does it say? By the will of God. Nobody else appointed him to
be an apostle and a preacher and a teacher of the Gentiles.
That came from God. And he said, because of the message
I preach for the witch cause, I suffer these things. That's
the reason I'm in here in prison. Because of the gospel I preach.
I heard a preacher say not too
long ago, he said if there's putting preachers in jail for
preaching the gospel, the jails would be mostly empty. Mostly
empty. What a sad commentary on our
day. Where in does the problem lie
in religion today? Behind the pulpit, that's where
the problem is. As I've talked to some men through
my ministry, they weren't willing to pay the
price. Compromise, that's the word of
the day. Get along with people. Get along
with the deacon board. God was teaching me the gospel,
and I had a preacher come to visit, Nancy and myself. He said,
is it true what I hear? And I said, well, what have you
heard? that you believe that God chose
the people unto salvation, and Christ only died for those people,
and the Spirit of God has to call them effectually to faith
in Christ. He said, is that true? I said,
yes, sir, that's true. He said, it's okay to believe
that, but don't preach it. Don't preach it. Because he said, if you preach
it, you'll never pastor a big church, and you won't be successful
as a soul winner. I don't want to be successful
as a soul winner, because he who wins his souls, his wisdom
itself, is Christ. And I'm not interested in making
a name for myself. In many places, and it seems
even in some sovereign grace circles, my name is mud. Not
too many people want to have anything to do with me or this
church as far as that goes. Did you know that? Is that shocking
to you? That's okay. That's okay. We labor on. Because we don't
answer to men, we answer to God. I don't care what they say. Well,
I do care. And sometimes it hurts. They can't put me in prison,
though, like they did Paul. I'd say, let's just hitch up
our pants and say, hey, we're going to stay on course. Ain't
that right, Ron? We're going to stay on course.
Let come what may, by God's grace. And we're not going to be ashamed.
I'm not ashamed to hold up the banner of the cross. Because I know whom I have believed.
He's the Son of God. He's the God-Man. And I have confidence in Him
that He's able, He's almighty to keep, to preserve what I've
committed unto Him and I've committed unto Him myself. Against that day. So, it's okay if people shun
us. Let them do what they will. They
can't put us out of God's family. They can't cut us out of an eternal
inheritance in glory. We're heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ Jesus. So, bear up. Bear up. Stand fast. May God keep us faithful to the
gospel of his free and sovereign grace.