Chapter 1. The title of my message this
morning is True Faith Illustrated. True Faith Illustrated. Now this apostle, Paul, he's
in prison. He's in prison when he wrote
Timothy this letter. You know, back up there in verse
eight, look what he says. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. You know, he was held in a Roman
prison. It was either the neighbor team
or the praetorian. Either whichever one it was,
it made no difference. He was held in a Roman prison. wet, cold, guards cruel and rough,
that Paul had been a prisoner for quite a while. Look what
he said over here in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1. Back to
your left, just a little. Talking about, see, he says,
of me, his prisoner. He didn't consider himself a
prisoner of Rome. He considered himself a prisoner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When they come in there and said,
don't you know That we got you bound, he says, oh no. He said,
I'm here because this is where the Lord put me. I'm Christ's
prisoner. And look what he says here in
verse one of chapter four of Ephesians. I therefore the prisoner
of the Lord. Called himself the prisoner of
Christ. And that's what he's talking
about. I'm a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said
about this being in prison, he says the time of my departure
is at hand. He said, I'm ready to go. He
said, they may execute me before the day's out. He said, but I'm the prisoner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then while he was there,
he was surrounded by a great fight of afflictions. A great
fight of afflictions. A prince was sorry, had troubles. He suffered within, he suffered
without. And he not only was chained to
a guard day and night, but his friends had forsaken him. Look
what he said here in verse 15. Look what he said in verse 15.
This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away
from me. Here I am, I've ain't got a friend
in this world. Nobody. He says, they've all
turned away from me. Now look over here in chapter
four, look what he says about how he was forsaken. He's in
prison. He's being held. And look what
he says, all he's surrounded, all of his friends have forsaken
him. Look what he said here in verse
ten of chapter four. For Demath hath forsaken me,
having loved this present evil world. And he went back to Thessalonica. Grecians, he went to Galatia.
Titus went to Dalmatia. Then look what he said over here
in verse 16, chapter 4. talking about when he stands
there and has to give an account of himself before the judge,
before the Caesars. He says, at my first answer,
no man stood with me, but all forsook me. Nobody stood up to
my defense. Nobody stood up and says, this
man is held here unjustly. Nobody stood up and said, this
is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody stood up and said,
this is a preacher of the gospel. Why would you mistreat him? What
has he done that you would treat him in such a way? But then what
he says, being a believer, being a Christian, being one person
who does not hold things against anybody with the love of Christ,
he said, I pray to God, I pray to God that it may not be laid
to their charge that God won't hold this against them, that
God won't charge them with forsaken me. Notwithstanding, the Lord
stood with me. and strengthened me, that by
me the preaching might be fully known, and all Gentiles might
hear, that I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." I
think that's literally, that God had him out there for a life's
duty, and God delivered him out of the mouth of the lion. And
the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve
me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whose be glory forever and
ever. Amen. So here we come back over
to our text, which is going to be here in verse 12, and I'll
get there in a minute. So here he is, he's forsaken by his friends,
deserted by his friends when he needed them the most. Here
he is, he's deprived of his liberty, in danger of being executed daily,
and he expected death every day. And yet, Instead of being discouraged,
you know what he said here in verse 12? He said, for which
things I cause also some of these things, but he says, nevertheless,
I am not ashamed. I'm in prison, been forsaken. Nobody stood with me. I'm expecting
them to come down here and take me out and kill me any day. And
he says, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. And then he says, Timothy, don't
you be ashamed of me, the testimony of thy Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. In fact, he wasn't even thinking
of himself in this situation. You know what he does? He starts
instructing Timothy and encouraging Timothy. He says there in verse
He said, I know I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed
and I persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. And then he says, Timothy, hold
fast the form of sound words. You sound words, you sound doctrine,
you sound things, which you've heard of me. And you hold these
things in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. And then
he says, And that good thing which was committed unto thee
by the Holy Ghost, keep it which dwelleth in us. So here's this
man in such a condition. And then he says, I'm not ashamed
because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he's able
to keep that that I've committed unto him against that day. Now,
do you know anybody that envies the Caesars? You know, I mean,
there was lots of Caesars. Julius, Caligula, Nero, Augustus, lots of Caesars. I
don't know of anybody that envies a Caesar. And Nero was the one
in power at this particular time. And he had executed Simon Peter.
And he's the one that had Paul executed. And he's the one who
had Christians set on fire and used for light in the streets.
In Rome, he was a crazy man. But nobody envies a Caesar. But
how many times have we all envied the apostle and his love? Wouldn't you love to have the
love that the apostle had when he said, I could desire? He said,
if I was possible, I would wish myself to curse from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. I mean, oh my,
you're talking about a man that loved people. And how about zeal? How many times have we envied
his zeal? And his courage. Wouldn't you love to have the
courage of the Apostle Paul? Standing up in front of great
crowds trying to kill him. And willing to stand before kings
and said what needed to be said. And suffered so graciously. Suffered so graciously. and glowing
in his weaknesses and his inability. How many times have we envied
him? But I don't know of anybody that envies a Caesar. But what
was the reason of this man's courage? What was the cause of
his confidence? What was the foundation of his
faith when he said, I fought a good fight, I kept the faith,
and I finished my course? What was the reason for this
man having this courage? What was the cause of his confidence? What was the foundation of his
faith? Well, in verse 12 it tells us,
he says, 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. He had made a commitment and
that's where he got his strength and his courage, his faith and
his confidence. He made a commitment. And if
you look into the margin where it says that word committed means
I trust it. I trust it. He trusted in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He trusted in his grace that
was given him before the foundation of the world. He said, I know
whom I have believed. Now, when he talked about a commitment,
where he got this confidence and this courage and this faith
from, he's talking about trusting and committing things. When you
commit to something, you give it over to Him and you trust
Him with it. Well, this apostle came and he
committed himself and all that he is into the hands of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, Here's my soul. I commit
my soul, my eternal soul. And everything that that means,
my soul that is now, my soul that is bound for eternity, everything
that Job feels about my soul, I commit it to you, Lord Jesus. And then, beloved, my soul, with
all of my sins, My soul with every sin that I've ever had,
and ever had will do, and every sin I've committed against you,
against mankind, against Christ, against the law, every soul,
every sin I've committed, I commit it to you. I commit my soul to
you with all of its hopes, and I commit my soul to you with
all of its fears. You see, He put His soul He put
himself in trust to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like taking
himself and his soul and making a deposit. And he said, I deposit
myself and my soul and all of his concerns, Lord, into your
hands. I commit it to you. I give it
to you. And all right, when you do that, what's going to happen
to you? Nothing good can happen. And
that's why he said, I'm in prison. I'm suffering afflictions. I'm
forsaken of everybody that I know. But he says, you know what? I'm
not ashamed of that. Why are you not ashamed? Because
I know whom I have believed. And I've given everything over
to Him. I've given everything to Him. He had taken Himself. Listen to me now. He had taken
Himself just as He was. just as he was, and committed
himself, surrendered himself to the Lord Jesus Christ, just
as I am. And I'm going to tell you something. That's a way you can only come
at any time in your life just as you are. You can't make yourself
better. I hope we get better. I hope
we get more gracious. I hope we get more loving. I
hope we get more tender. I hope we get more grace. I hope we grow in faith. But,
oh, beloved, we cannot come but just as we are at any time we
come. Just as I am, Lord, here I come. I'm coming, Lord. I'm coming,
Lord. Remember what I'm coming, Lord. How are you? Just as I am. I'm weak, I'm coming. I'm tired, I'm coming. I'm weary,
I'm coming. I've got sorrow, I'm coming.
I've got troubles, I'm coming. I've got heartache, I'm coming. I've got no rebellions, I'm coming. I've got nothing but sins, but
I'm coming. And guess what, Lord? I'm going
to give everything I've got to you. I'm going to give you everything
I've got. Just as I am right now, I'm giving
it to you. And you know what else I'm doing?
Paul said, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep it. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
it. And when the apostle committed himself to the Lord Jesus Christ,
it meant three things. It meant three things. And the
first thing it meant was this, that he gave up all efforts to
save himself. When he committed himself to
Christ, he gave up all efforts to save himself. Now, you keep
this here and look with me over in Philippians. Flip his back
over just about four or five blue books to your left, and
look with me and flip his three. When the apostle committed himself
to Christ, it meant three things. First thing, it meant that he
gave up all efforts to save himself. Now, he had tried to save himself.
He had tried very, very hard to save himself. He spent his whole life trying
to save himself. And look what he said here in
Philippians chapter 3 and verse 4. He says, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh. Now when he's talking about confidence
in the flesh, he's talking about in his fallen nature, in his
old adamic nature, in the nature that he had before he saved,
that he said he had confidence in that flesh. If any man thinks
that he has worth, he might trust in the flesh, in his works, in
his law-keeping, in his circumcision, in his baptism, in his sincerity,
in a righteousness that he's working out, in any deed that
he's done, in his prayers, and making brought his phylacteries,
and oh my, doing all these wonderful things, going to church and getting
all of his buttons and wearing his crosses, and oh my goodness,
putting his silly hat on his head and wearing all this. He
says, I had more to trust in than anybody I know of if he's
going to trust in something he did in the flesh. He said, I
don't know of anybody that could trust in the flesh more than
I could. Now watch what he says. I was circumcised the eighth
day. Just exactly like the law said, like God said to do. And
listen, I'm of the stock of Israel. Oh man, I'm foreboding. I'm of
the tribe of Benjamin. Remember Benjamin? That was the
son of love. That was Jacob's son of love.
And when Joseph said, go back and get that young boy, Jacob
said, I ain't letting him go. I love him too much, Joseph.
I'm not going to let Benjamin go. And then when Benjamin got
down there, remember, he had five portions compared to the
rest of them. I was of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews. Oh, I can glory in the flesh.
I mean, I can trust it. And then, as touching the law,
I was a Pharisee. I prayed and sat on the street
corners. I gave alms of all that I possessed. I paid all my tithes of men and
eyes and coming. I sat down and I learned from
the bird of Bennett. Now, you're talking about a Pharisee. If anybody's going to heaven,
me and another Pharisee's going. Nobody else is going. And then
you're talking about zealous. You're talking about zealous,
and man having some zealousness. I persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness of
the Lord? Blameless. Blameless. Oh my,
I mean, he... This fellow, he had something
to trust in, but he gave up all efforts. Look what he said in
verse 7. But what thanks were gained to me. Everything that
made me something in everybody else's eyes and in my own eyes.
Everything that I thought I'd gained. All of my successes.
All of my abilities. All of my works. All of my self-righteousness. All of my prayers. All of my
time at the temples. All of my sacrifices. My circumcision. The Hebrew of Him. Everything
that I ever thought that was going to make me something in
somebody else's eyes. In my own eyes and in the eyes
of God. I counted them lost. Duh. And I count them but dumb. Dumb. Ain't that what he called them?
You ain't doubtless and I count all things but lost. that I might
know Christ Jesus the Lord. And I've suffered the loss of
all things. And listen to this, and you'll do this one of these
days, if God ever saves you by His grace, if God ever saves
you by His grace and you grow, you'll count everything that
you've ever done till you come to the knowledge of Christ and
the knowledge of His grace, you'll count everything you've ever
done, but done. As rotten as it can possibly be. And oh, it's
like that rich young ruler, you know. Paul gave up all efforts
to save himself. And like that rich young ruler,
he come running, he come kneeling, and the first word out of his
mouth was, good master. And our Lord stopped him back
then and said, why are you calling me good? There's none good but
God. And you're going to have to admit
two things. That if I'm God, you're nothing. And you're going to have to trust
me to save you. But he didn't understand that. He said, what
good thing must I do to inherit eternal life? And our Lord told
him. He said, I've done that. The
thing you told me, I've done that ever since I was a little
bitty boy. Since I was a little bitty boy. And he said, well,
I'll tell you what you do. You're a very, very wealthy man.
You're a very, very wealthy man. I'll tell you what you do. Give
everything you've got away. Sell everything you've got. Take
everything you've got and go and give it to the poor. You done asked too much. I want
to be saved, but I don't want to be saved that bad. I want
to be saved, but I don't want to give up everything. I want
to be saved, but I don't want to give up my relationship with
my wife, my kids. I want to be saved, but I don't
want to give up my relationship with my granny. I want to be
saved, but I don't want to give up This sin that I've got. Oh, I want to be safe, but I
don't want to give up everything. Well, Paul said, I count everything
that I ever was, everything I ever thought, everything I've ever
made an effort at, I counted it, but dumb. And I'll tell you
something, you come to Christ, you come to Christ with anything
other than Him, you come to God with anything other than Christ,
you just will cover yourself with dumb. None of you would
go down out in a cow field or cow pasture or get down in a
septic system, take the lid off of it, get down in it and come
up out of it, and go in the presence of anybody else or go work. Well,
that's if you come to God in Christ and without Christ, that's
what you're doing. Just get out of the septic system
and come say, well, look how clean I am. Because that's what
you're like, trying to come to God without Christ. I mean, you're
just like a... It's awful. God said that you're
as an unclean leaf. All your righteousnesses are
a filthy rag. He said there's none righteous.
And that's what people don't understand. Paul said he finally
understood that. He said, I'll tell you what,
everything I ever done was dumb. Dumb. Garbage. Compared to what? Christ did
it for me, and that's what I counted for. And nobody's going to carry
their garbage around with them. Nobody's going to carry their
dog around with them. Nobody's going to carry their rotten stuff
around with them. They're going to walk off and
leave it until they come to Christ. I'm leaving that behind. I'm
coming to Christ. And that's what you'll do. Won't
you? Huh? And I'll tell you the second
thing. He gave up all efforts to save
himself, and he had tried. He really tried. And he found
out that he could not keep the law. That's what he said. And
all that was gained to me, I count it for loss for Christ. You know, if anything is gained
to me, it detracts from Christ. And let me tell you something
about that. Anything that you try to bring glory to yourself
in, and not give Him all the glory, it's loss for Christ. If you try to make anything you
say or do an attainment, And you put that in the place of
Christ, Christ loses. Anything that's a gain to you
is a loss to Christ. Huh? Well, what do you find to gain? What do you want to gain? Paul
said, I want a gain. Three things. I want to win Christ. I want to know Christ. I want
to be found in Christ. But we're going to be found somewhere.
We're either going to be found in Adam or in Christ. And no more, my God, no more
I boast of all the duties I have done. I quit the hopes I had
before to trust the merits of thy Son. The best obedience of
my hands does not appear before thy throne, but faith can answer
thy demands by pleading what my Lord has done." What the apostle
did when he committed himself to Christ, gave up all efforts
to save himself, found out he couldn't keep the law, he denied
himself. He left himself for Christ. Walked off and left self and
come to Christ. Huh? And then thirdly, the third
thing was, he had the utmost confidence that Christ could
save him. He had the utmost confidence
that Christ could save him. Why did he have that confidence?
If ain't that what he says? He said, I'm back over here in
verse 12 of 2 Timothy 1. For I know whom I have believed,
and persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day, he had the utmost confidence that
Christ could save him. Do you have the utmost confidence
that Christ can save you? Why did he have this confidence?
First of all, because he knew the power of the gospel. He knew
the power of God. The same power that raised Christ
from the dead was the same power that quickened him and saved
him. He knew the power of Christ. He knew the power of His resurrection. He knew the power of Christ.
He met Christ on the Damascus road, and that power of Christ
put Him down in the dust and made Him blind, struck Him blind. And then He knew, He knew Christ
could save Him because of His great love for Him. Look over
here in 1 Timothy chapter 1 with me just a moment. 1 Timothy chapter
1 verse 14. Oh, because of His love, because
of His mercy, because of His grace, because of our Lord's
willingness to save. Our Lord is more willing to save
you than you are to be saved. In fact, He makes you willing
to live His power to be saved. And once He makes you willing,
you're willing the rest of your life. You're willing the rest
of your life. You're willing to be saved. In
fact, you're not only willing to be saved, you want to be saved
every day. Lord, save me, save me, save
me, save me. Oh, my. Look what he said here
at verse 14. Oh, look at 12. Look at verse
12 here with me, talking about Christ's love for him. He said,
I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me For he counted
me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Who was before
a blasphemer, a persecutor. I was very injurious. But listen
to it. But I attained mercy. I did it
ignorantly in unbelief. Now listen now. And the grace
of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is
in Christ Jesus. And oh my, this is a faithful
saint. and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And you
know what? I'm the chief. I'm the chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtain
mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them which are hereafter to believe on him,
till life everlasting." You see, he had the utmost confidence
that Christ could save him. You see, he knew the Lord Jesus
Christ was worth his confidence, worthy of his confidence. If
he had 10,000 souls, he'd have committed of every one to Christ.
And I'll tell you something, I ask you, I ask myself, and
I do this, I do this, I give up every, I try by God's grace,
give it up every day, give up myself all over again and trust
in Christ. I go to bed at night, the Lord's
saving me. Get up during the day, Lord, save me. I give up all efforts. I give
up, give up all, give up all trust in yourself. Give up trust
in yourself right now. Just give it up. What are you
trusting in? What have you got to trust in?
What have you got to trust in? If it's not Christ, what do you
have to trust in? What are you trusting in that
keeps you from trusting Christ? Some of you get sent here, here
in the gospel, over and over and over and over and over. And
yet you won't trust Christ. I'm getting prayed for you. I'm
getting scared for you. What makes, what's keeping you
from trusting Christ? What is it about you? What are
you trusting in that keeps you from giving up your trust and
trusting Christ? If I was on top of the Grand
Canyon, and I knew Christ was there and would save me, and
He told me to jump and I'll save you before you get to the bottom.
And that's why Paul says in my departure today, he said, I'm
going out into eternity, and I'm trusting you to save me and
my hopes in you when I leave this world. Because there's laid
up for me a crown of righteousness. And I'm coming to You, Lord,
and I'm going out into eternity. And it's just like being at the
top of the Grand Canyon, and the Lord says, jump, and you
jump. And you jump out into that great
air, and there's miles down there who's going to save you. Well,
you're going to jump out into eternity one of these days. And
who's going to save you? Whose arms are you going to jump
into? Whose presence are you going to end up in? Who are you
going to be? Oh, my. Give up trusting yourself. That's all I'm saying. And put
it all in Christ. Put it all in Christ. Right now,
put it all in Christ. You know, the churches for centuries
have been used for sanctuaries. You know, criminals, people wanted
by the law, they could go and hide in a church and stay there. and escape punishment. Well,
I'll tell you something. The church is not my sanctuary.
I'll tell you, I run to the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's my sanctuary. And when the law and justice
come running after me, I run to Christ. I got behind Him.
And when justice come looking for me, it couldn't find me.
Because I was behind Christ. When the law come demanding perfection,
it couldn't find me. Found it in Christ. Oh, beloved,
plead to the Lord. And you know why he made justice
and law back off? He said, here's my wounds. Here's
my wounds. Justice, geez, got turned back. And it'll stop pursuing you.
It'll leave you alone. Oh, that's the three reasons
why, when you talk about committed to Christ. He's trying to save
himself. Found out he couldn't keep the
law, and he had the utmost confidence that Christ could save him. And
I'll tell you, he made a free, full, and free surrender to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when he did that, he became
the property of the Lord. He said, I'm the prisoner of
Christ. I'm the pawn slave of Christ. I'm an apostle by the
will of Christ. I'm bought with a price. Christ
purchased me with his own blood. He owns me. He paid the price
for me to be set free. For me to be set free from justice
and law and self-righteousness and all the hopes that I trusted
in before. He paid my sin. He paid for my
shame. He paid for my guilt. He paid
for my self-righteousness. He paid for my goodness. He paid
for my badness. He paid my debt. And I'm His. And he became Christ's servant,
and he gave up all of his badness and all of his goodness. People
don't care to give up their badness, but it's not your badness that
keeps you, it's your goodness that keeps you from coming to
Christ. Look over, I want you to see something over in Exodus
chapter 21, just a moment. Exodus 21, talking about being
a slave, a bond slave. Loved the Lord Jesus Christ.
Committed everything to Christ. And look with me here in Exodus
21, in verse 3. You know, when Paul was a servant,
he was a prisoner of Christ. And when a man was a servant,
a slave, held by a master, there was something he could do if
he loved his master. And look what it said here. In
verse 2, if thou buy a Hebrew service, six years he shall serve,
and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came
in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he were married,
then his wife shall go out with him. If his master had given
him a wife, and she had borne him sons or daughters, the wife
and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out
by himself. And oh, and if the service say plainly, plainly,
I love my master, I love my wife, I love my children, I will not
go out free. I will go out free. Then his
master shall bring him unto the judges. Then they'll bring him
to the door, and they'll hold him up to the door post, like
this right here. They'll hold him up to the door post, and
they'll go like this here, and they'll take him at all, and
they'll drill a hole in his ear. And every time he saw a fellow
with a hole in his ear, he said, I love my master. And that's
why Paul says, I love my master. I'm going to stay right there.
I'm going to give everything to Him. I'm not going out. I'm
not going out. Are you going to go out? And oh, beloved, I tell you,
He dared not to try to keep Himself or hold anything back. He just
dared not try to save Himself or hold Himself back. And let
me tell you something, this act of faith, this commitment to
Christ, must be continued. It's not an isolated act. It's
not an isolated act. He said, I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded he's able to keep, to keep, to keep on keeping. You see, it's not an isolated
act. That's what the apostle says, to whom coming, to whom
coming. And as long as we live, by God's
blessed grace, we must have no other confidence than Christ
and Christ alone, none other. And let me tell you, let me wind
it up with this. Why did he make this commitment?
Why did he commit everything to Christ? Why did he commit
his soul? Why could he commit his life? Why did he commit everything
about him to Christ? And he's sitting in prison. He's
writing this in prison. He's writing this letter sitting
in prison in Rome. Well, why did he make this commitment?
The answers are so obvious, because he knew Christ. He knew Christ. He didn't know some things about
Him. He knew Him. He knew Him. Huh? And isn't that what He said
here in verse 12? For I know whom I have believed. I know Him. I know Him. He knew Christ. He knew Him. No theoretical knowledge. Didn't read about Him in a biography.
He met Him. He experienced Him. He walked
with Him. He talked with Him. He is saved
by Him. He was taught by Him. He was kept by Him. He was comforted
by Him. Christ did everything for this
man that He promised that He would do. And then not only did
he know because he knew Christ, but look what he said, he knew
that he was able to keep that which was committed unto him.
He said he was able to keep that. He said, I'm persuaded of this,
that what I've committed unto him, he's going to keep it. How
long's he gonna keep it until that day? What day? That day
that we go to be with Christ, that day that Christ takes me
home, that day of judgment, that day of eternity, that day, everything
I've committed unto Him, when that day comes for me, and that
day of eternity comes busting in on us, that day, everything
that I've committed unto Him, He'll keep it right to the end.
And that includes me. And everything about me. And
then he goes all night. And then he's not only that,
but, beloved, he believes he is able to save. Able to save
to the uttermost. Then they came unto God by him,
and he had come to God by Christ. And he believed, beloved, and
was persuaded that he is able to perform what he had promised. He promised Abraham a son. Abraham
said, I'm persuaded he's able to keep, he's able to perform
what he promised. He said he promised me a son,
and he gave him a son. And he believes he is able to
keep us from falling and present us flawless before his glory
and his presence. And I want to show you something
in Daniel. Daniel, you know, is right after the book of Ezekiel.
A little 12-chapter book back there. Daniel, I want you to
look for him in chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3, talking about
believing, being persuaded that God is able. Do you believe God
is able? This man came to Christ, and
he is blind. And the Lord, He wanted his sight,
and He says, Do you believe that I'm able to do this? He asked
that man, Do you believe I'm able to do this? He asked the
man, the man wanted something, he said, wanted a miracle, wanted
his eyes. And our Lord looked, you know, said, do you believe
I'm able to do it? Paul said, I believe he's able.
I believe he's able. I believe he's able to save me.
I believe he's able to keep me. I believe he's able to perform
what he promised. I believe he's able to keep me from falling.
I believe he's able, and listen to what he says now. in Daniel
3.15. Now, if you be ready, at what time you hear the sound
of the cornet, flute, harp, sagbook, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds
of music, you fall down and worship the image Nebuchadnezzar made. He made this image, but that
told everybody to bow down to it. 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?"
Who is that God? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
answered and said to the king, We're not careful to answer you
in this matter. We're not worried a bit about
telling you. We're not full of care. We're
not worrying. We've not got any anxiety about
this. We're not full of care to tell you what we will tell
you. I'm not a bit worried about it. If it be so, our God, whom
we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fire furnace. And He will deliver us out of
our hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto
me, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up." And then look down at
verse 24. They throw him into the fire
furnaced, and Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded, and rose
up in haste, and spake unto his counsellor, Did not we cast three
men bound in the midst of the fire? They answered, said, True,
O king, He answered, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the
midst of the fire, and they have no heart. And the fourth is like
unto the Son of God. They committed themselves to
God and to Christ. Now let me tell you something,
beloved. And he wasn't persuaded. I know
I'm taking a while, and I hope I'm not wearying you. But what
persuaded him? What persuaded him? How? Well,
first of all, the Scriptures persuaded him. He searched the
Scriptures about these things, about Christ, and he read straight
away from the Scriptures and started proclaiming Christ. The
Scriptures told him who Christ was. He said, I'm craving thee. He read, I'm craving thee on
the palms of my hand. I've written thee on the palms
of my hand. He said, I said, you know, he won't fail me, won't
discourage you, won't quit smoking flats or break a bruised reed. And all of a sudden he was persuaded
by the scriptures, he was persuaded by his experience. On the Damascus
road when Christ come to him, he was persuaded when Christ
took him to jail and tore that jail all to pieces and set him
free down in the Philippi. He was persuaded, beloved, when
he was on that ship. And God told him, He's going
to save him on that ship. He was persuaded, beloved, when
he says, I was delivered unto death, but I believe that God
shall deliver me, then will deliver me, and has delivered me. And
then, beloved, he believed in Christ's faithfulness. Christ's faithfulness. He said,
He'll never leave you, nor forsake you. And he said, he's the same
today, yesterday, and forever. And he said, and I'll tell you
something else he said. He said in Romans 8.35, I'm persuaded,
I'm persuaded of this, that neither death, death, my death, my wife's
death, my children's death, death of anybody close to me, or anybody's life. I don't care
how good their life is. I don't care how dedicated their
life is. I don't care how perfect their life may seem to be. Not
a new grandchild, not a new great grandchild, not any life, not
a wife, not a son, not a daughter. Nobody's life. There's only one death and one
life that I'm persuaded that will separate me from the love
of God in Christ. And that's the life of Christ
and the death of Christ. The rest of them don't matter.
Ain't that right? Ain't nobody gonna separate from
the love of God during Christ. Paul said, I've committed. I've
committed.