You know, the first thing that
you remember that he told Timothy when he was dealing with him
last week, you know, God's not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and a sound mind. And that's one of the things that
is such a blessing You know that to give in a sound mind, especially
when it comes to the gospel, the word of God, and the power
and the love that comes through the gospel. And that's why he
says here in verse eight, 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. And this is the first thing he
says to him, he said, don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed of the gospel.
Don't be ashamed of the gospel, of the testimony of our Lord
Jesus Christ, what our Lord came and told about himself, what
he told about his father, what he told about the Old Testament.
Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Romans 1 16, he
said, I am not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed of where I was,
I was ashamed of that. I don't even want to mention
what it was. But he said, when it comes to the gospel, he said,
I'm not ashamed. And the reason I'm not ashamed,
because the only place you'll find out how you can become righteous,
and God could stay righteous, and he can be just and you can
be justified is in the gospel. So that's the most blessed thing
that you'll ever hear in your life. What? Be ashamed of that?
Be ashamed of our Lord's person? Glorious person? God who came
down in flesh? To be ashamed of his offices?
Mediator? Prophet? Priest? King? Savior? Redeemer? Oh, no. Be ashamed of his righteousness?
Well, that's the only one that gives us a standing before God. Be ashamed of his sufferings?
Oh, my, because he suffered not for himself. He suffered for
our sins. That's the reason he suffered.
And then all about his resurrection, I read to you Sunday how that
they said when Paul was preaching to them the resurrection, let's
hear what this Bible has to say. He's brought strange things to
our ears. That there's a man who was raised
from the dead. There's a man who was raised,
there was a resurrection of this person he calls Jesus Christ. And I tell you, the only person
that ever rose from the dead of their own power is the Lord
Jesus. All the rest of us, if we're
raised from the dead, it'll be because He does it. He's the
only one that can do it by His own power. And I tell you, I
know this much, that I tell you what, be ashamed of His return.
No, no, no. I tell you, no preacher, Nobody
that professes faith in Christ, who professes Christ to be their
all, has any reason to be ashamed before this wicked, wicked, evil
world. We've got the best news that
anybody has ever heard, huh? And all to be ashamed of this
gospel before this old evil world, that this gospel that's so great,
this gospel that's so glorious, this gospel that's so true, and
not only is it true, but it's useful. You know, the gospel
is useful. It's always useful. It's useful
to bring peace to us. Useful to feed us. Useful to
instruct us. Useful to rebuke us. The gospel
is so useful. Oh, the peace it brings, the
rest it brings. Oh, the gospel does. And so he
said, be not ashamed, therefore, of the testimony of our Lord.
And all the things that our Lord said about himself. All the I
am's that he said. Oh my, then he says, and don't
be ashamed of me, his prisoner. Don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner.
You know what, Paul? He was being held a prisoner
in Rome. And you know they had to be chained
or handcuffed to guards. And these Roman guards, and they
had to be chained to them or handcuffed to them, called them
these chains. But he says, don't be ashamed
of me. I may be a prisoner held down here in Rome, but he said,
I'm not a prisoner of Rome. I've committed no crime. I've
broken no laws. I'm here for the sake of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel that I preach. The Jews couldn't
stand it. The Romans couldn't stand it.
Caesar couldn't take it. That there was another king besides
Caesar. There was someone who had authority
and power over him and everybody else. And that the law couldn't
do nothing for you. Works couldn't do nothing for
you. Phariseeism couldn't do nothing for you. And so they
said, we'll put this man out of business. So he appealed to
Caesar and ended up in Rome. But you know what he says? Nor
of me, who's prisoner? The prisoner of the Lord. Go
back, keep this and go over to Ephesians chapter three. Go over
to Ephesians, back to your left, just a little, Ephesians three.
Look what he says now here. Oh my. He wasn't a prisoner of
Rome. Look what he says here in Ephesians
three one. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner,
listen to this, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. For you Gentiles. Look what he
says in chapter four, verse one. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord. That's what he's saying. I'm
just happy to be held in Rome, but I'm Christ's prisoner. I'm
the Lord's prisoner. I'm here because Christ put me
here. And I'm his prisoner. And I tell
you, he said, don't be ashamed of me. Don't be ashamed of me
and don't be ashamed of my chains. Don't you be ashamed of the gospel
that I preach. Don't you be ashamed. There's
no reason for you to ever be ashamed. He wasn't ashamed of
himself. He took every opportunity. You
go to Acts chapter 28. And when Paul first got to Rome
in Acts 27, it says there that many met him at the Appia way.
And when they met him there, the brethren met him there, and
it says that he took courage. He got so happy, he took courage
to see all the brethren that came out of Rome to meet him.
And then when he got in Rome, they let him go into this home
for a while and kept him in this house, a house that they got
for him. And he preached the gospel from
morning to night. And you know what it says? Some
believed, some believed not. But I tell you what, he says,
don't be ashamed. Don't you be ashamed of me. Don't
you be ashamed of my chains. Don't you be ashamed of the gospel.
I'm not ashamed at all of anything that's ever fell out to me. He
said, this will be the last time you'll see my face. When he was
leaving Ephesus that time. And I tell you, none of his friends
is ashamed of him either. I tell you, he was setting an
example And then look what he says to Timothy here. In fact,
over here in our text in verse eight. But be thou a partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.
What he said, Timothy, if you're gonna preach the gospel, you're
gonna partake of the afflictions of the gospel. The gospel itself
brings afflictions with it. Let me tell you a story that
I heard last week. David Edmondson, pastor up in
Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville, Kentucky. He had a radio broadcast. And of course, he preaches free
grace, sovereign grace. Well, they called him up and
said, we can't run your program anymore on here. He said, well,
why? He said, you mentioned sovereign
grace. He said, is there any other kind of grace? And you
know they took him off of there, and I'll tell you why they took
him off there. Because the man that pastored a church, that's
a free will Baptist church, and they said, you know, these folks
can't take it. It's just the opposite of what
I believe. So they cut him off because he used the word sovereign
grace. If he had just said grace, put
some conditions on it, he would have been able to stay on there
forever. But when you talk about grace reigning, grace with the
power, grace with the rights, grace with its freedom, and God
in control over that grace, not many people are going to believe
that. They're not going to believe that. They're not going to do
it. Timothy, you're going to have to endure afflictions for
preaching and professing the gospel. Now here's the thing,
the gospel of peace, that's what it's called, the gospel of peace,
the gospel of liberty, but yet man in his depravity, man in
his awful, awful depravity, he cannot stand the fact that God
is an electing God, that God chooses whom he will, and they
get upset with that. And when you call them sinners,
real bonafide sinners in the sight of God, they don't like
that. And how many homes have been
divided? How many husbands and wives have
had fights? How many churches have been split
because somebody was taught the gospel and ministered privately,
he don't like it, it brings trouble, it brings division, and they're
ashamed of the gospel because it tears down their little playhouse.
And I tell you, it tore down my playhouse. I thank God it
did. I thank God that one day He crossed
my path with the gospel of grace. Somebody told me the truth. And
my little church house, and my little playing religion, and
my little little what they call a preaching, and oh God just
tore it all down. And He left me one place to stand
on the foundation of Jesus Christ. and I'm standing right there,
huh? Oh my, we're not gonna, oh, and
then he says, be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God. Now that means two things, that
the power of God is gonna be the one bringing you into the
afflictions, and the power of God's gonna uphold you in those
afflictions. God don't take you no place if
he don't go with you, or he didn't went before you, he ain't already
set foot on. Huh? Oh, that's why we talk about
His grace is sufficient and at His own time and place. I'll tell you what, there's going
to be times, there's going to be times, and there's been a
lot of times over the years that I've had a lot of trouble over
the gospel. A lot of trouble over it, but
I'll tell you, they finally figured out that I wasn't going to quit.
In fact, Dr. Davidson asked me the other day,
he said, you still preaching? I said, yes, I am. Yes, I am. Still preaching. That's the first
thing you want to know. You're still preaching? Well, you know, in boxing, if
your corner thinks you're getting beat too bad, they got a towel. And they'll throw in the towel,
and they say, stop the fight. Said, my body's getting beat
too bad. Well I'll tell you one thing, God's preachers, God's
people that know the gospel and trust the Lord Jesus Christ to
be their all, they ain't never gonna throw in the towel. I don't
care how hard the trial is, I don't care how tough the way gets to
be, if nothing goes on they say, well I'm throwing in the towel.
No, we're not gonna do that. Because you know why? We can't
be whipped. We can't be beat. Christ already
won the victory for us. And then look what he said here. Oh, I love this. Oh, this is
the verse scripture that God settled me so solidly on the
gospel right here. who hath saved us, a power of
God 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. And you
know, he started out and said, don't be ashamed, be not thou
for ashamed of me, the testimony, or the testimony of our Lord
Jesus Christ. How can we be ashamed of one
who brought us and bought us an eternal salvation, huh? Who hath called us by his Holy
Spirit, who called us, called us by his Holy Spirit and brought
us and gave us his own righteousness and brought grace to us with
all of his glory and all of his power and all of his strength
and all of his freeness. Oh, how powerful grace is. Grace
can't be turned on with a switch. Grace can't be turned off. Grace
is something that Christ bought, God bought, belongs to God, and
He's got it in His power to give it. And oh my, and oh, He redeemed
us. Oh, how can we be ashamed of
Him who redeemed us by His own blood and made us His children? And it says, not according to
our works. Not any time before He called
us and saved us, not any time after He called us and saved
us. Our works has nothing to do with it. Never at any time. The first time we bring a work
into it, we make the gospel of none effect. We fall from grace. People talk about falling from
grace. All you got to do is fall from grace, add something to
Christ. or take something away. That's all it takes. But oh my,
and then he did this according to his own purpose. He got his own purpose. And grace, and it was given to
us in Christ. And look what he says. You know,
as many times I've quoted this. Today, it really, really, the
light shined on it. Gave us purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus. Listen to this. Before the world
began. Before God ever said, let there
be light. Before God ever created the heavens
and the earth. Before the world ever began. You know why the world began?
So that he could have a people. that Christ could come and save
them by His precious life and death and resurrection and ascension
and intercession on their behalf. And He's going to return again
for them. God made this world to do one thing, to bring glory
to Himself through His Son. And I tell you what, if He chose
everyone that He was going to save, everyone He's going to
give grace to, and He said, I've done it on purpose, And He did it for us in Christ
before the world ever began. Now you figure that out. Let
that thing sink into your soul. I tell you, before God ever said
anything about creating the world, He gave us grace in Christ. He
gave us love in Christ. He has set His purpose on us
in Christ. Oh, bless his name. How in the world could this be? That God
chose us in Christ, gave his son of his love to save us, making
us accepted in his beloved, keeping us. He refused to let us and
leave us in our sins, but called us to himself. And I tell you,
then you go through Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1, and four times
it says, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Four times,
to the praise of His glory. Four times it says, to the praise
of His glory. That's why God does what He does.
Oh my. And I tell you what, you're talking
about, to be ashamed of His gospel would be unthinkable. to prefer
the praise and comforts of this world, it's just unimaginable,
but that's what the unregenerate heart does. That's why Paul said,
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that's going to be revealed
in us. Oh my. And you know the sovereignty
of God in it, it says, He saved us. He called us. It's His purpose. That shows His sovereignty. He
did it. He did it. Like in Romans 8,
it says, He, He, He, He, for whom He, for whom He, for whom
He. He called. He justified. He glorified. He, He, He. I tell you, it all
goes back. Oh, God bless His sovereignty. Oh, thank God, all this is freely
given us in Christ. Then look what it says in verse
10 now. Look what it says in verse 10. But this gospel, this salvation,
this glorious salvation, this free salvation, this salvation
of God's grace in Christ by His own power, His own calling, Not
anything we've said, done, or ever will do or say, but this
gospel 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. And this is long
and short of salvation is in Christ. We say that over and
over and over again. Since the beginning, Since the
beginning, God's grace, God's gifts, God's mercy, God's love
for the elect have all been in Christ even before the world
ever began. The first, here's the thing about
it, we would not know that this is where God done things and
that not, he saved us by his grace. We would have never seen
that verse of scripture, had we known nothing about it. because
it was hid before in God himself, hid before in the counsels of
God. And then when God began to write the Bible, and God had
the scriptures opened up, God started out with Christ in a
promise. Then he started out with Christ
and with Enoch, walked with God. Then he went to Noah, who found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And Noah saved in an ark. And
I tell you, God began to unfold the gospel, unfold everything
in Christ. Then he went to the Passover
lamb. Then he went to Abraham. And then he went to Moses. And
then he went to Isaac. And then he went to Jacob. And
he proved all down through the scriptures. That there was one
Savior, and all these people are saved by one person, and
God promised them salvation in that person. And this started,
you know, redemption starts in a promise, and then it just gets
bigger and bigger and bigger, until one day, Christ stepped
on the scene. Oh, it was the Lord, all the
types and the shadows and all the sacrifices, that morning
lamb and evening lamb, telling us about the Lamb of God that
would come. Moses being God's prophet, told us about Christ,
our prophet would come. Aaron, our high priest, would
talk about our high priest who would come. And oh my, and then
there's Melchizedek, The priest of the Most High God. You don't
know where he come from, you don't know where he went. And
that's the way it is with Christ. He has no beginning of days,
no ending of days. So, oh my. So God opened it up. Oh my. And here we are. And now here comes Christ, made
of a woman, made under the law. And when he appears, the gospel
comes clear as day. The sun arose. it comes out clear
Christ who had been told he was coming and all the things that
happened all the pictures and sacrifice there he appears there
he appears and the first words out of his
mouth when he entered the ministry first words out of his mouth
in Luke chapter 4 you know what they were he stood up and said
the Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor to preach the acceptable riches,
acceptable year of God. And then he went on through several
things and he said, he held up the book and he said, today,
today, that scripture right there is fulfilled in your ears. Oh, they want to do that in His
gracious words, and then they want to do away with Him. But
oh my, when our Lord Jesus Christ, when He came and He appeared,
He brought the freeness and the clearness of the gospel, the
freeness and clearness of God's work for us, and the work that
God gave Him to do. And I'll tell you, it happened
when our Lord Jesus Christ was made in human flesh. Now let
me ask you this, you think the Old Testament believers were
ignorant of the grace in Christ? No, no,
no, they weren't. Our Lord said, if you believe
Moses, you'd believe me. Why? Because Moses wrote about
me. And then he said, Abraham, Abraham, rejoice to see my day,
and saw it, And he was glad. And I tell you, Abraham and all
the other believers, they placed their confidence in our Lord
Jesus Christ appearing to put away their sin. And then look
what else it says about him. by the appearing of our Savior.
In Hebrews 9, there's three appearings of our Savior. And here's one
of his appearings here. And when he hath appeared, he
appeared as our Savior. He appeared as our Savior, Jesus
Christ. And look what it said, who hath
abolished death. Oh my, he destroyed death. You
know, he destroyed the law of sin and death. The law is, and
it's a principle, the law of sin. That equals death. Christ abolished the law, the
principle of sin equals death. He abolished that. He destroyed
Satan. He destroyed Satan who has the
power of death. And thirdly, he has taken away
the sting of death. And you know what the sting of
death is, is the Lord. He fulfilled the law, so he took
away the sting of death for his people. And he took away the
only thing that would sting them, and that's sin. And then it says,
now the Lord, he abolished death. But listen to this. He abolished
the second death. You know what the second death
is? That means Not only do you die here, but then you die, ever
die, ever die in hell. Always die. Always die. That's second death. We is dead
in trespasses and sins, and then we go to that death, and the
second death is that death that separates men from God. But he
abolished that second death, and it has no power over us.
Oh no, you know what he brought us? He brought us life. Ain't that what it says there?
He brought life. He brought life. When He appeared,
He abolished death and then He brought life. He brought life
with Him. And look what else it says. It hath brought life and immortality
to life through the gospel. You know, Our Lord Jesus the first arose
from the dead to an immortal life. Now you know, immortal,
people want to be immortal. We're going to be immortal. We're
even immortal here until our work is done, one of the old
hymn writers says. But he brought life and he brought
immortality, immortality to life through the gospel. how we are
going to live after this world is over. That's what he's talking
about. He brought life and he said, listen, he prayed in John
17, he said, Father I will that they whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. That's immortality. Oh, it was brought to life, brought
to our understanding. Oh, and the doctrine of the resurrection. I mean, it was revealed even
in the Old Testament. You remember Job said this, though
He slay me, yet I'm going to trust Him. And I shall receive
my Redeemer in the last days in my flesh. I shall see myself,
for He shall stand upon the earth. And I tell you, he looked forward
to the resurrection. And I tell you, but oh, not as
clear as this real build in the gospel now. He said, the Lord
himself shall descend with a shout. With a shout. With the voice
of an archangel. The dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them to meet the man of air. And so shall we ever be with
him. And you know what the next line
says? We're for comfort one another with these words. That's immortality. Same thing as everlasting life.
But we're not immortal until he brings us out of that grave.
Mortal shall put on immortality. Corruption, gonna put on incorruption. And these shall be brought to
pass that saying, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where's
your sting? Oh, grave, where's your power? Oh, what a blessed hope we have. And then look what he says, and
I'll close with this. He said, where unto I'm appointed
a preacher? He said, I'm appointed a preacher.
Why? Because God has saved us. He taught me the gospel. I've
seen Christ and I've seen Him as my Savior. I've seen Him as
my Redeemer. And I'm not afraid of death because
He's abolished death. Oh my, he was right there, he
was facing death. By the time we get to the end
of this book, you'll see that Paul was standing right there
looking death in the eye. And you know what he said? Time
my departure's at hand. Time for me to leave here. I fought a good fight, I'll tell
you what, I never surrendered. Never surrender. And I finished
my course. You know what? When I get up
yonder, I've got me a crown of righteousness waiting on me.
Not only me, but everybody that's looking for it. Our Lord, oh, our precious, precious
Savior, thank you for allowing us to look into your word tonight.
Lord, no wonder You said it's quick and powerful, sharper than
any two-edged sword. Oh, Lord, it reveals our hearts,
our thoughts, our intents. And oh, Lord, it brings us such
comfort, such peace, such joy. Really, there is peace and joy
in believing. God bless these dear saints.
May the gospel be a blessing to them. May you keep them. And please be merciful to those
who are not with us. through the weakness of their
body, we understand that these bodies are frail and weak, and
oh God, we pray that you'd restore them as seen with good in your
sight, for Christ's sake, amen. I want you to turn to hymn number
400, and we're gonna sing this, and it goes, it's to, when I
survey, I looked at this today, And it goes real good, I think,
with our stand together. Jesus shall it ever be. Jesus, and shall it ever be,
A mortal man ashamed of Thee, Ashamed of Thee, whom angels
praise, whose glory shined through endless days. Ashamed of Jesus, sooner far,
let evening blush to own us. He sheds the beams of light divine,
O this benighted soul of mine. Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend,
on whom my hopes of heaven depend, Know when I blush, be this my
shame, That I no more revere His name. Ashamed of Jesus, yes
I may, when I've no guilt to wash away. No tear to wipe, no good to crave,
no fears to quell, no soul to save. Till then know is my boasting
vain, Till then I boast a Savior slain. my glory be that Christ is not
ashamed of me. Well, I'll see you Sunday, God
willing.