I did it right. Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Timothy chapter 1. I would like to begin the weekend with a word of encouragement. Word of encouragement is going
to come from verse 12. But let's begin reading in verse
1 and we'll enjoy the verses that lead up to it. 2 Timothy
1 says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according
to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus." The promise
of God is life. That really struck me when I
read that again. The promise of God. I look at
all of us sitting here, some young, some middle-aged, some
older in this life, and we're all here hoping for one thing.
Life. Life. That's what we want. Life
with Christ. The promise of God is life. That's wonderful to me. That's the will of God for His
people. Life. Live. A bunch of hell-deserving, unworthy
sinners like us. Isn't that amazing? Life through and in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 2 says, To Timothy, my
dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord. That is the greeting of the Gospel. Grace, mercy, and peace. That's the opening announcement
from God to His people. First thing to His people. Grace,
mercy, and peace. Life, grace, mercy, and peace. Verse 3 says, 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." He said, I thank God for
Him continually bringing you into my remembrance to pray for
you. Aren't we so thankful that we
love each other? Aren't we so thankful? Verse
4 says, Greatly desiring to see Thee, being mindful of Thy tears,
the tears that He shed at their last parting, like when Paul
was leaving the Ephesians and they were all falling on each
other's necks. They were just so sad. He said, this is the last time
I'm going to see you. And they were just so sad, falling
on each other's necks. Goodbye, I'll never see you again.
Do you know that right now they all see each other? They do. Others so sad, just falling on
each other's neck, you know, well this is it, goodbye. Well
that didn't take long. It didn't take long. They all
see each other right now. Verse 4 says, 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, without
hypocrisy, the sincere faith that is in thee, which dwelt
first in thy grandmother Lois and in thy mother Eunice, and
I'm persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance,
that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the
putting on of my hands, For God hath not given us the spirit
of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 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, who hath saved us and
called us with an 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, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death." Do you not love that? I really have gotten a hold of
this a little bit more than I ever have before. That's what He came
to do. Abolish death. And hath brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. Whereunto
I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of
the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed.
For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." Paul told Timothy, he said, this
is the gospel. This is the gospel. God hath
saved us. That's what he said in verse
9. He has 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, and is now made manifest to us by the appearing of our
Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel." He said,
that's the gospel. And he said, Timothy, don't be
ashamed of that gospel because I'm not ashamed of that gospel.
Why? He said, it's because I know
whom I have believed. And if there's ever a moment
where we feel weak and ashamed, all we have to do is think about
Him. Nothing else matters and nobody
else matters. It's Him. Nothing else will last. It's Him. I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that He is able. Paul said that's
where my confidence comes from. It comes from knowing who I'm
believing in. And knowing beyond any shadow
of a doubt that He is able. He is able to do whatever He
said He's going to do. Whatever that is, He's able to
do it. Now that's the thought that I
want us to just enjoy for a minute, okay? He is able. He is able. There is hope in
that statement. There's true comfort in that
statement. Our God is able. The Lord Jesus Christ is able
to do everything that has been committed unto Him. God the Father was the first
one to trust in His Son. And I commit all this into you
and I trust you, you'll do it. Everything that's been committed
to Him. That's what I want to look at. Just some of the things
that have been committed unto Him. And in seeing this, I pray
the Lord will give us the same confidence and the same assurance
that He's given to Paul. It was said of Abraham that he
believed God and was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he
was able to perform. And therefore it was counted
unto Him for righteousness. May that same faith be counted
unto us and given to us. If it comes to us, it's going
to be given to us by God and performed in us by God. But may
we receive the confidence and the assurance of knowing that
everything this Word says that is committed to Him, He is able.
He's willing and He's able to do every bit of it. Now what
things have been committed unto Him? What works? What accomplishments? Paul said everything I've committed
unto Him. What do we commit unto Him? Everything. What do we not
commit unto Him? Everything. But just to look at a few of them,
just for a few minutes here. Turn with me if you would to
Philippians 3. Philippians 3 verse 20. It says, For our conversation
is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it
may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. according to the
working whereby he is able." We're going to look at those
three words. He is able even to subdue all
things unto himself. Let's start with this right here.
He is able. What works have been committed
to Him? What accomplishments have been committed to Him? Number one, he is able to subdue
all things unto himself. That's the first thing. Whether
he brings it down, or whether he brings it up. He's able to
subdue all things to himself. King Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel
chapter 4, this was after the Lord revealed some things to
him. He said, let me tell you something that I'm persuaded
of. I believe this with all my heart. I'm confident, I have
full assurance, that those who walk in pride, He is able to
abase. He is able to bring a man down. He is able, thank God, aren't
we all so glad? I'm looking at a high and mighty
person speaking to high and mighty people. He is able to bring a
man or woman down. He is able. He's able to subdue. He's able to conquer. No matter
who a man is, no matter what a man is. You see some people
and you think, no hope for them. Boy, there's no hope for them. Like that Gadarean man who was
a lunatic. He couldn't be bound with chains. There's a brother in Kingsport
that said this to me one time. It's the same brother I'm always
talking about. Everywhere I go, I talk about
a brother in Kingsport. This is him. I was either preaching
on the Gadarean or mentioned him or something, and after the
message was over, he came up to me just pointing like that.
He said, that Gadarean? That's me. He said, that's me. He said, I try to bind my sin
with chains and I break them every time. He said, I try to
bind my tongue with chains, and I break them every time. He said,
I try to bind my mind and my thoughts with chains, and I break
them every time. And I said, do you mind if we
go try it? Let me go try that again. I wrote it down. I thought, that's good. It's
true. It's so true. That Gadarean couldn't be bound
with chains. He lived in a tomb cutting himself
and mutilating himself. No one could do anything with
him. No one could do anything with
him until the Lord Jesus came to him. And don't we just wish
that Christ would come to sinners? Nobody needs me to come to them.
We need the Lord Jesus Christ to come to men and women. He
walked up to that man and everybody in town came up and found that
man sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And that's how all of God's people
are found after Christ subdues them. He brings them to His feet
and they come willingly, bowing to Him, worshiping Him, praising
Him. For who He is and what He's done
for them. What'd He do for you? He brought
me down. All of God's people are clothed
in His righteousness. Giving them a right mind to worship
and serve the true and living God. Not religion, God. Sitting, clothed, right mind.
Thank God He subdued us. If He subdued us, He's able to
subdue anybody. Everybody knows that story of
William J. and John Newton. William J. came into John Newton's office
and said, Brother Newton, did you hear that the Lord saved
John Smith? And John Newton said, No, I didn't
hear that. That old gutter, scoundrel, you
know. No, that's wonderful. And William
J. said, Brother Newton, I'll never
despair of anybody since God saved him. And John Newton said, Brother
Jay, I'll never despair of anybody since God saved me. He saved
us. He can save anybody. There's another brother in Kingsport
who just over and over and over again, when you will get this,
you'll understand this because you've said it. Over and over
again, he would come up and say, why me? Why would God do this
for me? Why would he have mercy on me?
Why would he show kindness to me? Why me? I finally said to
him one time, it's because you were the worst. Me and you. That's why he saved us. We were
the worst. And he said, that's the first
thing that's ever made sense to me. We were the worst. Well, here's the next thing.
Not only is He able to subdue us, turn with me if you would
to Daniel chapter 3. This is just before the Lord
taught Nebuchadnezzar some things. Daniel chapter 3. I love the story of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the burning fiery furnace. And you know how it goes. King
Nebuchadnezzar said, if you don't bow down and worship this idol,
this golden image that I've made, I'm going to throw you into the
furnace. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't do it. And
Nebuchadnezzar was told that they didn't do it. Verse 13,
Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before
the king. Nebuchadnezzar Spacan said unto them, Is it true, O
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not you serve my gods, nor
worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you be
ready, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet,
flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of
music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made well.
But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the
midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not
careful to answer thee in this matter." What they were saying
is we don't need more time. We don't need to ponder this.
We're persuaded. We're certain. We have full assurance
of this right here. Verse 17, if it be so. If you do throw us into the midst
of the burning fiery furnace, our God whom we serve is able
to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and He will deliver
us out of thine hand, O King. Either He will deliver us from
the burning fiery furnace or He will deliver us through the
burning, fiery furnace. But either way, He will deliver
us out of your hand. Verse 18, But if not, be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up. They said, He has subdued
us to Himself. Therefore, we know that if He
wants to, is willing to, He is able to deliver us. If He wants
to. And that's the truth. If He wants
to and if He wills to, He is able to deliver us. That's the
truth. The good news of the gospel is
He wants to. He does. And He's willing to. Either from the fiery furnace
or through the fiery furnace. But either way, He will. It was
His will in the beginning. It is His will right now. It
will be His will in the end. That's His will for His people.
He who purposed it and accomplished it shall bring it to pass. Hebrews
7.25 says, He is able to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him. Meaning that are brought to God
through Him. Through Christ. Seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. Hebrews 11.19 says that Abraham
was willing to plunge the knife into his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. He was willing to. He committed
in his heart to. Because Abraham believed in his
heart that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. If that's
what He wanted to do, He's able to do it. And that's what Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were convinced of. They said even if He kills
us in this furnace, He's still able to deliver us. He delivered
us from sin. And you think about, I know we
can't understand this and get a hold of this, but He delivered
us from sin. You talk about something that
has a hold on us. He has delivered us from death.
He has delivered us from hell. All through the shedding of His
own blood. He'll deliver us from this, from whatever, that's what
they were saying, whatever this is. Even if He uses it, He'll
deliver us. And you know how this story ends.
Nebuchadnezzar bound them, heated the furnace seven times hotter
than normal, and threw them in. Verse 22 says, Therefore, because
the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot,
the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said unto
his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst
of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, True, O king." And before I read this next verse, I'll
just tell you, this is one of my favorite things to read. Because any time that you have
ever been in the midst of the fiery furnace, some trial, you
know this is true. You know this is true. King Nebuchadnezzar,
he said, didn't we throw three men in there? Didn't we bind
them? Didn't you tie it up tight? They
said, yeah, we did. True, King. Verse 25, he answered
and said, lo, I see four men. Loose. Walking. In the midst of the
fire. And they have no heart. And the
form of the fourth is like the Son of God. How did He know? If a person ever sees Christ,
they'll know, won't they? Jesus Christ was with them. The
Son of God. Right there in the midst of it.
And He is. He is. That's how it will be for every
single child of God. He said, when it's your turn
to walk through the fire, I'll be with you. What Nebuchadnezzar saw right
there was Christ crucified for them. Christ crucified with them. All of them could say, I was
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Nebuchadnezzar
saw that. He said, pull them out of there.
Deliver them from going down to the pit. I have seen their
ransom. So they pulled them out. And
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't have one hair singed. Not one burn mark. They didn't
even smell like smoke. Verse 28 says, Then Nebuchadnezzar
spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that
trusted in him, and hath changed the king's word, and yielded
their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god
except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that
every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against
the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in
pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there
is no other God that can deliver after this sort." Then the king
promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. He is able to subdue us. and
He's able to deliver us. That is so comforting. Now because
we have been subdued and delivered, let me very quickly show you
three more verses of Scripture. The first one is 2 Corinthians
9. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 8, it says,
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you,
always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to
every good work. God is able. He is able, Christ
is able to make all of His grace abound toward you. Not just your
fair share. Okay, well there's a number no
man can number and His grace is divided into a number of pieces
that no man can number. He is able to make, this is amazing,
for each one of His people, He is able to make all of His grace. All of His goodness, all of His
kindness abound toward you. In the same way that His mercy
abounded toward us through the cross of His death, it abounded. His grace has abounded toward
us through the resurrection of His life. His mercy was Him not
giving us what we deserve. God gave His own Son what His
people deserved. And grace is us getting what
we don't deserve. God has given His people what
His Son deserved. And every need, and this is so. All of these things are so. We
can all say this is true. He is able to subdue us. And
we can all say this is true. He is able to deliver us. And
we can all say this is so. He's able to make His grace abound
toward us. That means His grace is sufficient. You will get to the end of a
thing whether He delivers you from it or through it. Here or
there, we will all say, His grace really was sufficient. And it
abounded. And I'm happy. Really? Yeah. I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't change it. I consider
it grace. It was grace. Above and beyond. Every need
that we have in this life and in the world to come is going
to be supplied, graciously supplied. And then turn with me to Acts
20. Not only will all of our need
be supplied here, but every need that we ever have to come, for
all of eternity He's able to supply. Acts chapter 20 verse
32 says, And now brethren, I commend you
to God. And is that not what we do in
the preaching of this Word? I commend you to God and to the
Word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you
an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. He is able. to build you up and to give you
an inheritance among all them that are sanctified, an inheritance
eternal in the heavens. Peter said it's one that is incorruptible,
undefiled. It will never fade away. You'll never have to worry if
it's going to run out. It'll never fade away. And it's
reserved in heaven for all those who are being kept by the power
of God. An eternal inheritance. He's
able to do that. What is the inheritance? It's
Christ Himself. He is the inheritance. Can you
not wait to hug Him? Really? I love hugging you all. Can you not wait to hug Him?
And say, thank you, thank you, thank you. He's our inheritance. That's why it's never going to
fade away. He'll never fade away. He's the inheritance. So He is
able to subdue us, to deliver us, to abound all grace to us,
to reserve an eternal inheritance for us. Therefore, let's close
with this scripture. Go with me if you would to Hebrews
2. Verse 14, Hebrews 2.14, it says,
For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. For barely he took not
on him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might
be a merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor." That means to comfort and to help them that are tempted,
going through trials. Anytime you need comfort, anytime
you need true help, go to Him. Go to Him. In our weakness and
in our flesh, He is our last resort. We'll go to everything.
We'll go to everything. And it won't help. But the moment
we go to Him, there's help there. He literally, whatever it is
that each person is going through, He stood there in that place
for you. He stood there in that place
as you. And He knows. He knows. We have not a high priest who
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because He
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let
us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. How amazing
is that statement? We can't even come boldly to
the White House. You can't walk up to the Oval
Office and walk right in. But we can walk up to the throne
of God Almighty. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of His grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. He's able. He's able. Paul told Timothy, considering
the fact that that is our message, Why on this earth would we be
ashamed of that? Why on this earth? That's the most glorious
message there is. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded He's able to keep that which I've committed unto
Him against that day. Thank you, Brother Donald.