If you would, let's open together
to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, I'm going
to read the first 12 verses. 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, greatly desiring to see
Thee, being mindful of Thy tears, that I may be filled with joy.
when I call to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and
I am 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,
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 man." Let's
pray together. Our gracious Lord and Heavenly
Father, Lord, we've gathered tonight hoping and longing to meet together
to worship your Son, our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Father, we ask that you would
send your Spirit. Lord, if we meet and your Spirit isn't
among us, We meet in vain, Lord. But two or three are gathered
together, and we have your promise that you'll meet with us. So
Lord, we look to Thee. Bless this Word. Strengthen,
comfort, encourage us by Your Word. Father, we pray for Donnie. Give him safe travels home, if
it be Your will. And for those that are sick and
tried and afflicted among us, O Lord, You know their need. And we bring them to You, Lord,
for we know that You're able to save and to heal to the uttermost. Father, thank You for allowing
us to meet together. Bless us if it be Your will,
for it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. I tried, as I was reading this,
in verse 12, to emphasize Paul's confidence and his assurance
as he concludes that verse 12, I know whom I have believed. Paul displays no hesitancy, no
stumbling, no questionableness while he gives that statement,
I know His gospel and our gospel is
full of assurance. Some of these assurances that
we've been given are readily received and believed, at least
to an extent, by all men. Such as, boast not thyself of
tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. and
man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble."
Almost everyone, to some extent, believes those statements. But
there are some assurances, some blessed and happy assurances
that only those who are the elect, the called of God, can truly
rejoice in. As I was going to work one day,
I got to singing, Blessed Assurance. And as often happens with me,
I mangled the first verse. And instead of, Blessed Assurance,
Jesus is mine, it came out, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Lord. That is a blessed assurance. And it led me to think about
what is my assurance? What do I take assurance in?
And as I answered that question, five points came to my mind as
blessed assurance. Jesus Christ is Lord. He is God. He is man. Jesus Christ is the Savior of
sinful men. And Jesus Christ finished His
work. With blessed assurance, with
happy confidence, I have that Jesus is Lord. That first line
of that hymn says, Jesus is mine. But I don't always feel that. It doesn't always give me assurance. I don't always know that Jesus
is mine, in and of myself. But Jesus is Lord. There's no
question. There's no doubt. I don't need a feeling to know
that He is Lord. There can be no argument about
it. Come what may in our lives, Jesus Christ is Lord. Do you believe that Jesus is
Lord? When you say, of course, do you
know what you're agreeing to? Jesus Christ is Lord. He reigns
over all. Turn with me to Psalm 8. He is the Lord of Creation. Psalm 8 starting in verse 6. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all under his feet,
all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the
fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. He is Lord over all the works
of God's hands. Is there anything that can escape
that dominion? In the beginning God, God was
before the beginning. The beginning is the work of
His hands, and everything that came afterwards
is of Him. Look over with me in John chapter
1. John 1 verse 3. All things were
made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was
made. He is the Lord of creation. He is the Lord over all mankind. Look over in John 17. This is our Lord's high priestly
prayer John 17, verse 2, he says, As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, he is Lord over all flesh, and he has a particular
lordship over the redeemed, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. Although the heathen rage and
princes take counsel together, God has made Jesus Christ the
King of kings and Lord of lords, and under His reign we dwell. Our Lord was made Lord by decree,
design, death, and choice. He is Lord by the decree of God. Paul wrote to the Philippians,
saying, God hath highly exalted Jesus Christ, and given him a
name which is above every name. Christ is Lord by design. Look over in Colossians chapter
2. Colossians 2 verse 9, For in
Him, in Christ Jesus, dwelleth... It stays with Him. It dwells. It lives. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him which
is the head of all principality and power. He is Lord by death. Romans 14.9 says, For to this
end, or for this purpose, Christ both died and rose and revived. And this is the end, that He
might be Lord both of the dead and living. And He is Lord by
choice. God chose Jesus Christ to be
Lord. He separated Him out and set
Him apart. And He gave Him the name that
is above every name. And we chose Jesus Christ as
our Lord. Because He first chose us, we
choose Him. And we confess and bow to Him
as our Lord and our Savior. This world goes around asking
the question, Will you let Jesus be your Lord? It's a vain and
useless question. There is no letting Jesus be. He is Lord. The question is, when will you
bow to the Lord Jesus Christ? Will you bow here and plead for
His mercy? For our God is a merciful God
and He delights in showing mercy. Or will you continue in your
rebellion and when you see Him coming in all His glory, will
you fall, not in humble adoration, but as a disposed deposed rebel
before the conquering king whose vengeance has been released and
there is no longer time for mercy. Oh, that we might bow now and
plead for his mercy. Turn back over to John chapter
1. Our blessed assurance comes from
knowing that Jesus Christ is Lord, and He is God. Genesis begins with, In the beginning
God, and here in John 1, verse 1, it says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And we've already read how the
fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Christ bodily. He is God. Jesus Christ, who walked this
earth in the flesh, is God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit is one God. They are not separated. There is one God, three persons,
Jesus Christ. The fullness of the Godhead dwells
in Him bodily. He is God. He is the God we will
see. He is the eternal God. He is
the great God. Over in Luke 1 now. Jesus Christ
is Lord. He is God. He is man. Luke 1 verse 30. The angel said
unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. Over in Luke 2 verse 7 says,
And she brought forth her firstborn son. God, the Eternal, the Almighty
God was conceived in the womb of a virgin and brought forth
as an infant. I know I'm having you turn to
a lot of places, but I figured that with the time change and
Wednesday night, it would keep us awake. So if you would, turn
over to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. He is God. But made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men, and being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross." Jesus Christ is man. Jesus Christ is God. He is the God-man. He is God, Spirit, and life. He is man of the earth, flesh
and blood, who can die. I find great assurances of these
facts that Christ Jesus is Lord, God, and man. Along with these,
I have a blessed assurance that He is the Savior of sinful men. And I am a great sinner. Because He's the Savior of sinful
men, it is comforting to be made a God-made sinner. For our perceived father, notice
that I made the distinction of being made a God-made sinner. No man can take it upon himself
to truly take his place as a sinner without God performing a work
in his heart. Every one of us can read the
scriptures and find out that all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And every man at his best state
is altogether vanity. Yet we'll justify ourselves and
we'll continue to cling to our works and say, oh, we're just
as good as everybody else. And as a matter of fact, I'm
better than that guy over there. But when God moves upon a man's
heart, and He reveals to that man that he is holy, that God
is righteous, and he sees something of the glory of God, that man
will be made a God-made sinner. I don't dare say that I'm a sinner
with any pride, or any bragging. To the contrary, I long for the
day that I am free from sin's dominion. But when I declare myself a sinner,
I'm not just declaring that I don't always do what's right. In fact,
being a sinner isn't so much what I think, what I purpose,
what I say, or what I do. It's what I am by my very nature. This nature that I inherited
from my father Adam, this nature that all of mankind inherited
from him, we're rebels. We're enmity against God Almighty. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. So how is it possible that being
a sinner is a blessed assurance? Well, sinners are spiritually
dead. They're void of any spiritual
ability. What can the dead do? They can't
work. They can't take a step for Jesus. They can't pray through. In fact,
the dead can do nothing for themselves. As a dead sinner, someone else
must do for me. 1 Timothy 1.15 This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. That man to whom God has revealed
His glory and has revealed what He is by
nature, what that man is by nature, He can only cry out, I'm a sinner
and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ is my all and
all. Our Lord said the Son of Man
has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And he has
finished the work he came to do. Every child of Adam is a
rebellious sinner, lost, dead, and trespassing sin. Having no
hope and without God in the world, we trample God's law. We pay
no heed to his commandments. And we do all that we can, just
like our father Adam, to remove God from his throne. The anger
of God is rightfully against us. God's justice cries out guilty. And the judge of all the earth
must declare the sentence of death upon all. God is just and his justice must
be fulfilled. But God delighteth in mercy,
and He is love. It was His love that constrained
Him to take upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. It
was His love that caused Him to veil His glory in a tabernacle
of flesh and walk in the world as a man. He, for love's sake,
was tempted and tried that he could be our high priest, having
been touched with the feelings of our infirmities. His love
for us took us to Pilate's court to be beaten, smitten, and afflicted. As wicked men railed upon him,
they spit upon him, they smote him, they plucked out his beard,
they placed a crown of thorns upon his head, and then they
beat upon his head. And yet, death would not come
at this time. For he, the God-man, is holy
and righteous, free from sin, And without sin, death has no
hope. After all this suffering in the
flesh, there was more to come. He was led, as a sheep before
her shearers is done, to Calvary. They nailed him to a tree, and
he was hung between heaven and earth. There upon that cross,
God the Father made his only begotten son sin. The sin of those for whom Christ
came to save was put on him. And the wrath of God rained down
upon that man while he hung on that tree. The sin that should
have sent every child of Adam to hell in eternal separation
from God, that sentence of death was endured in the body of Jesus
Christ on the tree. As He hung in darkness, God's
wrath burned away the sin, and at the end, When He had accomplished
all that was written of Him, He gave up the ghost. No man
took it from Him. He laid it aside. The Son of
God, the Son of Man, shed His blood and He died. Life Himself
laid down His life. His body was wrapped. and laid
in a tomb. And on the third day of His own
power, He took His life up again. Salvation had been accomplished. The justice of God had been satisfied
and the penalty of death had been paid in full. Those for
whom Jesus Christ suffered and died are now made the righteousness
of God in Him. Bless His holy name because He
lives, we live in Him. Because His justice has satisfied,
He can have mercy upon all those He came to save. and He ever lives to ensure our
complete and full redemption. How great is our assurance that
the Holy One of Israel accomplished all that was written of Him and
He finished the work He came to do. In this world, there are a number
of things that we have confidence about. Most of them aren't very
joyous things. Benjamin Franklin wrote, In this
world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes. Death and taxes. Neither of those
are especially happy circumstances. In Romans 8.22, Paul states another,
We know For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now. I hope you had the opportunity,
as I did, to go out during the ice storm. I went out a couple
of times during it. While it was falling, it made
a tinkling sound that was kind of strangely nice to hear. But after it had fallen, And
things began to, I don't know if they were thawing or just
in pain, but it astounded me how noisy it was. That is one time that I think
I've heard creation groaning in pain. And I am confident that right
now the whole creation groans. though I can't hear it." That's
not an especially happy assurance that we have. But we, the elect
of God, blood-bought, redeemed sinners, we have some blessed
assurances. Jesus Christ is our Lord. He is the God-Man who came forth
to save sinners. By His life, His suffering, His
shed blood, His death and His resurrection, He has finished
the work and accomplished our salvation. He has saved all those that God
the Father gave to Him. My assurance And my earnest prayer
is that your assurance is the same as mine, and that is the
same as Paul's. I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed to him against that day. Amen. Let's bow together in prayer. Father, thank You. Oh, thank
You for this time together. Lord, it was a time in which my heart was blessed.
And Lord, I hope others were encouraged and edified Once again,
saw Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, high and lifted up. Father, thank you for sending
him. Thank you for your love and your grace towards us sinful, rebellious, wretched
men that you were pleased to show your love and your mercy
on us. Oh, Lord, might we bow to Christ,
exalt him daily. Lord, bless this congregation.
Keep your hand upon it. Lord, grow us in the knowledge
of Christ Jesus. Let us see more and more of his
beauty and his holiness. Keep us by Your Word. Keep us
by Your grace. For it's in Christ's name we
pray. Amen. Will you dismiss us in a song, Gary? Song number 255. Let's stand. We'll just sing the first stanza
of it. And we'll make the same mistake,
which is no mistake. Blessed assurance, Jesus is Lord. See it that way on the first
stanza.