you would Please turn to the
second epistle of Timothy Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and
I'm gonna begin reading in verse 8 Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord and 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 now is 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 witch cause also, 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. That's where I'm gonna try and
preach from. I will say this, I have nothing new today. Absolutely nothing new. However,
I do have something old. Older than this world. Because
by God's grace, I'm here to preach whom I have believed. And whom
I think Paul has believed. I try to do it every time. But
the whom, in this scripture in particular, but also in every
scripture, is the most important thing, whether I see it or not,
whether you see it or not. The whom is the important thing. There are a lot of people tied
up in what? They're tied up in doctrine,
they're tied up in tradition, They're tried up in denomination.
They could be tied to a church building. They love the what. But most places leave out the
whom. And the what is important. Doctrine
is important. Sound teaching is important. But the what better be based
on the who. Because it's Christ that leads
us to his doctrine. It's not doctrine that leads
us to Christ. A lot of people got it backwards. And that's
the most, the whom is always the most important thing. When
it's him. When it's him. Because what you
know is dependent upon who you know. And it will leak out. It has. I will tell you this. I wrote it down. Correct doctrine
with Christ Excuse me, correct doctrine without Christ is just
as dead as false doctrine without Christ Because the key thing
is you're without Christ You have to know And I'm gonna
try and prove this from the scripture You have to know the true Jesus
Christ Or you are without Christ and Romans 10 and verse 13, just
for a second, before I get really into this, just to show you what
I'm talking about. Romans 10 and verse 13. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call upon
him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? You can't believe who you don't
know. That's just the way it is. There
are people around who will accuse us of blind faith. Paul says
it here, I know. I know whom I've believed. Here's
the thing, you may not know whom I've believed, but I know whom
I've believed. That's what Paul's saying. In
1 John, we went through this, it proudly proclaims and graciously
proclaims that we know, what? That we know him. Now, the encouragement
of the assembly, the encouragement of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is important. It's essential and it's welcome. However, there is this one little
point. There is no assembly unless there
are individuals making up that assembly. Paul's saying, I know,
I know. This is his testimony to Timothy,
wrote him a letter, but it's to us also. I know whom I have
believed. There's no such thing as a group
salvation. There's no such thing as a denominational
knowledge. Not in the scriptures. There
is no church salvation. Paul knew that he believed. And he knew whom he believed. Because no one could believe for him. I can't believe for you. You
can't believe for me. I can't know for you. You can't
know for me. I have to know whom I have believed,
and you have to know whom you have believed. It is an individual
thing and it comes upon and it comes to every child of God whom
what? Whom he has saved and called
with a holy calling. It is called the common faith.
But the only reason it's called the common faith is because every
single child of God believes him and will believe him. All I'm saying is you have to
know. And you have to know him. We'll
get into that. So it's individual. But there's
another thing about this that I have to point out. Because
this is also true. The scriptures are clear, Apostle
Paul in particular. It takes the power of God to
know and to believe the true and living God. know Jesus Christ whom he has
sent Verse 9 Who has saved us and
called us with an holy calling what not according to our works
But according to his own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began God saved us Not according to
our works. That past, present, or future.
Take one, pick one. You understand? There's a lot
of people saying God chose us because he saw what we would
do. No, God saved us not according to our works. Thank God he saved
us not according to our work. Because if it was dependent upon
my works, I'd still be on my way to hell. And so would every
one of you. He saved us according to His
purpose and His grace. And His purpose and His grace
was given to us in His Son, in Jesus Christ, before the world
began. You know the word election's
only in the Bible about six times? But by golly, it teaches it everywhere.
He gave us purpose and grace before the world was. How could
he do that? Well, he's God. He can do whatever
he wants. Guess what? Paul just wrote it
down. This is what he wanted to do, is to give his purpose
and his grace to his children before the world ever was. You understand, people have a
tendency to look at election like it's leaving somebody out.
No, it's the only way we could get included in. We were talking
about that last Saturday with Roland and Walter. Election is not including anyone
out. It's not putting anyone out.
It puts somebody in, otherwise there would have been no one
in. If God didn't choose us from before the foundation of the
world, no one would have been saved because all were sinners
in Adam. We were made sinners in Adam.
Adam fell and we all fell with him. And this earth was cursed. And guess what? This earth is
still cursed. Now there's coming a day that
curse is gonna be cleaned. And this earth is going to be
cleansed But it ain't yet, it's not yet God saved us. Here's the second
thing in Colossians chapter 1 Because this is something the world doesn't
understand and to be honest I think some grace people may not have
a grasp on and I do want to point this out Excuse me in Colossians
1 and verse 25 Paul writing, whereof I am made
a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you to fulfill the word of God. And here we are. Even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now
is made manifest to his saints. This is something, it's a mystery.
Now I'm not talking about the mystery of the church. That's
a mystery also. Paul deals with that in another
place. But this is a mystery. But it's been revealed to us.
It's been revealed to those who know whom they have believed.
What's this mystery? To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. So what is it? Which is Christ
in you? the hope of glory. You understand? I know whom I have believed is
to know this mystery. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a mystery
to the world. He was a mystery to you at one
time. Whether you thought you knew
him or not. Whether even if you had correct doctrine or not. but until he reveals himself
to his people, you're not gonna know anything truly about Christ
in you, the hope of glory, until what? He's in you, the hope of
glory. Jesus Christ is the mystery made
known unto his saints. I like that, Christ in you, the
hope. That's my hope of glory. He's
my hope of glory, that he's in me. He gave us his spirit. God
himself living, abiding in you, if he saved you and called you
by his grace. But that's a mystery to the world. What did Paul write in another
place? If our gospel be hid, And it is, it is hid to those
that are lost. You mean the gospel's a mystery?
To the world, to the world it is. But it's been revealed to
his saints. Jesus Christ has been revealed
to his saints. Or they're not saints. I mean,
how plain can you be? Our gospel is hid to the lost,
what's that mean? It means that without Jesus Christ,
that mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory, is unbelievable. You understand that? I mean,
it just hit me. It's unbelievable, Walter. The
mystery of God, Christ in you, the hope of glory, is unbelievable
to the world. Now the problem's not with the
mystery, the problem's not with the gospel, the problem is the
world. The problem is the people in
the world. The problem used to be me. It used to be me. There's one time I couldn't believe
Christ. You know why? Because I didn't know Christ.
I couldn't love Christ. And the only reason people can't
love Christ is because they don't know him. They don't know who
he is, they don't know what he did, they don't know where he
is, and they don't know what he's doing now. Now there's lies
in all kinds of churches, in all kinds of places all over
this world about where Jesus is, what he did, and what he's
doing now, but this is the Christ of the Bible that we're trying
to talk about today. I know whom I have believed. And Paul tells us whom. Paul
tells us whom. Because Paul knew him. Paul said,
I knew him. I know him. I know him. What's he say? OK. Because we've got to get to the
whom. You've got to know whom. And you've got to know the right
whom, because the wrong whom can't help you. But Paul tells
us in this scripture that I read today, first description here
in verse eight, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of who?
Our Lord. And then read on, but be thou
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power
of God. So who's the whom that Paul's
talking about? A, he's our Lord, and B, he's
God. Okay, keep going. Who 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, where? In Christ
Jesus. We've got our Lord, God, and
Christ Jesus. And who's left? the same whom,
but now is made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus
Christ. That's whom Paul is talking about.
Lord, our Lord, God, Christ Jesus, and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now isn't that just the most
peculiar order you ever heard? No, it's not if you know it.
but it's peculiar to the world because you're starting from
the wrong place according to the world. You just gotta get
people saved, let them believe on Jesus. Paul starts with Lord. I didn't read it, but guess what
it says in Romans chapter 10 and verse nine, that if thou
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, Shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved
and That's exactly right That's exactly true Ephesians 1 and 19 says and what
the exceeding greatness of his power to us who are believing
according to the working of the power of his might If you confess
Him, the Lord Jesus, with your mouth, it's because God has put
His power in you to believe Him. To know Him and to believe Him. Because you can't believe who
you don't know. But here it is. This is the whom.
Our Lord, God, Christ Jesus, and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I don't think he put one word
of that out of order. I think it's all right there
exactly where he wanted it to be. Because I remember Earl telling
me a story, and I think he told it from the pulpit, about being
in an ordination panel. He was on the panel. Him and
a friend of his was there. And there was a young man, And
the fellow who was with Earl asked the question. I'm sorry,
yeah, the fellow who was with Earl asked the young man the
question. He asked him, who is Jesus Christ? Now this is a fellow,
a young man, I don't know his name, doesn't really matter.
Because this fellow is being ordained as a preacher to be
preaching the Lord Jesus Christ to people And this fellow with
Earl asked the question, who is Jesus Christ? And the young
man answered and said, I don't understand the question. And when Earl first told me that
story, I just went. I mean, my jaw dropped. If it didn't, it
felt like it dropped. But I just felt amazed. that this fella here wanting
to be a preacher, being ordained, he's got to that point. You don't
just ordain a guy the first week he shows up. Can't answer the
question, doesn't understand the question, who is Jesus Christ?
Well guess what? The world doesn't understand
that question. Not truly, not truly. And the world today still doesn't
understand that question or the answer to it. because Paul answered
that question right here. He is our Lord, he is God, he
is Christ Jesus, and he is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now that
young man that said that, I thought at least he knew something. My
goodness. Because not knowing who Jesus
of Nazareth is means that you do not know him. Isaiah prophesied is coming.
There's a child that's gonna be born, there's a son that's
gonna be given. And he's gonna be called what? The mighty God,
the everlasting Father. The son that's gonna be given
is gonna be called the everlasting Father. These three are one. I ain't got no explanation, that's
just the way it is. That's what it says. Father,
Son, and Spirit. These three are one. You know
what that means? It means these three are one. The great deeper meaning. What's Paul saying? You have
to know the Lord. You have to know God. You have to know Christ Jesus. And you have to know our savior,
Jesus Christ. That's not four different people,
it's the same guy. But we have to divvy it up in
order to get any of it in our head. The Lord, Paul just wrote it
here across the page here in chapter six and verse 15. Which
in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate. The king of kings and Lord of
lords. who only hath immortality dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting,
amen. And John wrote of him coming,
saying it's on his vesture and it's on his thigh. What? King
of kings and Lord of lords. You've got to know the Lord. And he's God. Isaiah, the mighty
God, the creator and the sustainer of everything and everyone in
this universe. It takes the power of God to
believe this one. It takes his power to believe
him. The world doesn't know anything
about that, and I'm gonna tell you this, 99% of preachers don't
know anything about that, because they're not preaching it. Understand
salvation the knowledge of God Believing Jesus Christ takes
a miracle in a man or a woman It takes the power of God It's written in black and white
All over the place in many different ways but they won't have it because
it doesn't fit their wheelhouse. It doesn't fit in their scheme.
It's not part of their tradition. And they won't submit themselves
to Christ, and they won't even submit themselves to the word.
They'll tell you they believe every word in the Bible till
you read it to them, till you tell them what it says. Well,
I don't believe that. Or that doesn't mean that. Yeah, that's been my personal
experience. I'm being sarcastic now, okay?
Yeah, the Bible never says what it means. That's what I hear. Because there's all kind of people
explaining all kinds of things away. And there's all kind of
other people that completely stay away from the good stuff,
as far as I'm concerned. Not only is he God, he's Christ
Jesus. The Messiah. the anointed one,
the prophesied one, all through the Old Testament. He's the blessed
redeemer, he's the Passover lamb, and he is the continual burnt
offering. He's the atonement. He's the
atonement. He's the sacrifice goat, and
he is the scapegoat. I like that. He's the Christ, Jesus, and He's
our Savior, Jesus Christ. You notice Paul doesn't get to
the Savior until he's gone through the Lord, the God, and the Christ. Because you know what? Your Savior's
gotta be all three of those. Your Savior has got to be Lord,
because salvation is of the Lord. Your salvation has got to be
God because it takes his mighty power. And your salvation has
to be the Christ because he's the one that came and purchased
you with his own blood and took away the sin of the world. Then you get to the Savior. They
start with the Savior and want to back up to the Lord. He don't
work that way. Man works that way all the time.
And they do, I mean, seriously. They talk like believing Jesus
is easy. Now let's go do something hard,
like walking in good works. Well, walking in good works is
hard. But you understand, you've got
to know the Lord before he'll be your savior. He's gonna show
you who's boss, if you wanna put it that way. And he's gonna
show you that it ain't you. It's not me, it's not Walter,
it's not anybody. He's the one in charge. Because Jesus Christ is our savior,
not only he bought us, not only he died for us, not only redeemed
us, he reconciled us to God. That's salvation. You understand? He has brought us in himself
to God, the Father. He's salvation from beginning
to end. Alpha and omega. And Paul said, I know whom I
have believed. I have to believe him. I have
to. You have to believe him. You
have to know it. Or you don't. You don't know
him, you don't believe him. You don't believe him, you don't
know him. You can put whatever cart before the horse you want
to on that one. Because if you don't know him, the Lord, God,
Christ Jesus, and our Savior Jesus Christ, you ain't believing him. I'm trying to preach today of
the one whom I have believed. Because I know, I know this. He's the same one to whom all
the prophets gave witness. I know this one. Our Lord, God,
Christ Jesus, and our Savior Jesus Christ is the very same
one that all the apostles gave witness to. And I know he's here
in his word, he's in his book, and he's in his assembly right
now. I believe him. And I'm persuaded
he's able to keep that which I committed unto this day. How
can Paul be so sure? How can you be so sure of salvation?
You know people lose it and gain it all the time. All around us. No they don't, but they say they
do. People say lots of things, Walter, they ain't true. Because
I'm gonna tell you, you understand, when you're dealing with the
Lord, God, Christ Jesus, and our Savior Jesus Christ, he's the one that saved us and
called us. And if you're saying he ain't able to keep, you're
talking contrary to scripture. Which, what's that mean? That
means you're lying. You're lying. Because he's able. He's able. He that has begun a good work
in you shall perform it unto the day of Christ. Until that
day. Until his day. He'll keep his
sheep because he's a good shepherd. He'll keep his brothers and sisters
because he brought us into the family. and he'll keep his saints
because he loved them and he'll love them to the end. He's our
mystery. Reveal to the saints, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Now listen, you didn't put him
in you and you can't run him out. Come on now. We're talking about the Lord.
We're talking about God. We're talking about the Messiah,
Jesus. We're talking about our Savior,
Jesus Christ. He put himself in you, he revealed
it to you, and you can't put him out. If God be for us, who
can be against us? Not even yourself. So here's the question I have
to ask. Do you know whom you have believed. Now I'm not asking who your parents
believe, who your grandparents believe, your husband, your wife,
or even what your children believe. Because this is one, this is
a matter, it has to be settled by each and every one of us,
myself included. Pastors, preachers, elders are
not exempt. Walter has to know whom he has
believed just as well as I have to know whom I have believed.
But the question I'm asking is, do you know? Because you need
to know whom you have believed. You must know Christ in you,
the hope of glory. Because he's revealed it in his
word. Like I said, knowledge doesn't save, okay? Yes, Jesus Christ does save sinners. He saves the ungodly, he saves
the unrighteous, he saves those who are enemies of God in their
own minds. And also this, he saves the ignorant. But he doesn't leave us anywhere
in that pile. Because that was a pile, that
was a mess. Paul admitted, I did it ignorantly
in unbelief. What? was consenting under the
stoning of Stephen, was going to Damascus to put believers
in jail. Take them back to Jerusalem.
Maybe get them stoned like Stephen was. I don't know. But he said,
I did it ignorantly in unbelief. But here's the thing. He forgives
our sins. And we're godly and we're righteous
in him. And he calls us brethren now,
not enemies. We always were brethren, we just
didn't know it. And we no longer live in sin. He lives in us. Not saying we don't sin, but
we don't live in it anymore like we used to. But here's the thing. Believers are no longer ignorant. He saves us ignorant. But he
shows you a few things before you even know about it. Believers know whom they have
believed. And that's all I'm asking, do
you? Our Heavenly Father, oh Lord, help us. Because we know there's still
ignorance in us. And we also know knowledge doesn't
save us. but thank you for what you've
given us and enabled us to grow in the grace and the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Be with Walter as he
comes to preach your word. Give him the words to speak and
us the ears to hear and a heart to understand your will and your
way by the power of your son. Thank you, Lord, amen.