All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to 2 Timothy, Paul's second letter to Timothy. While you're turning, let me
give you a brief background. Paul was in Rome when he wrote
this epistle. You find that in chapter one
of verse 17. And Paul was imprisoned for preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ. You find that in chapter one
in verse eight. And think about that, being in prison for preaching
the gospel. In this country, we know nothing
about that. We know what it's like to be balked and jeered.
Maybe even someone to use very harsh language, but we know nothing
about what it is to be locked up in a Roman prison in that
day and age. Because the Roman prisons in
that day and age are not like the prisons in the United States
of America. Okay, everybody listen. As I preach. Okay. And Paul felt in chapter four
verses six through eight that his end was not. He said, I'm
ready to be offered. Fold a good fight of kept the
faith. Paul's God-ordained gospel imprisonment and that's what
it is because in chapter 1 in verse 8 he said I'm the prisoner
not of Rome I'm the prisoner of the Lord So Paul's God-ordained
gospel imprisonment is the backdrop of this letter And in this letter Paul wrote
these words and we just actually saying part of them 2nd Timothy
1 verse 12 He says, for the which calls I also suffer. What's that?
The calls of God, the calls of Christ, the calls of the gospel. And those things are always joined
together. When we say one, we mean the
other, at least those of us who preach the truth. We talk about
the gospel, we're talking about God Almighty. We talk about Christ,
we're talking about the gospel, we're talking about God. When
we talk about the gospel, we're talking about Jesus Christ, God
Almighty. for the which cause I also suffer
these things. So there's the context. These
things he talks about in this epistle. 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. Think about that beginning phrase,
nevertheless, nevertheless, I am not ashamed. Have you ever had those pity
parties for yourself? When you say, well, I just don't
know if I know God or not. I don't know if I'm one of God's
or not. I'm not here to mock you because
I understand those feelings. But those are not the feelings
of faith. They are feelings. They are not faith. Faith says,
nevertheless, I am not ashamed for. That's what faith does. When we complain about ourselves,
the reason is we've got our eyes on ourself. That's what it's
about. That's what it's all about for
the believer. When we complain, when we worry about ourselves.
Am I just one of God's or not? What are you talking about? Do
you want to see the Lamb's Book of Life now? But that's the way we conduct
ourselves when we have our pity parties for ourselves. But I'll
tell you what, this book gives me as much information, if not
more, than the Lamb's Book of Life because all it has in it
is names. This gives me the character,
conduct, belief, walk of all those whose names are written
in that book. Although our names are not mentioned
here, who we are is mentioned here. Paul says, I'm not ashamed. That's the title of my message.
Paul, nevertheless, I am not ashamed. What I want to do this
morning is look at three words that Paul uses here in this verse. First of all, for I know whom. That's the first word. He didn't
say I know that I have believed, although I'm sure he knew he
believed. That's evident. But notice what he actually said.
Nevertheless, even though I'm locked up in prison and I'm so
cold, Timothy, will you bring that coat I left over in Troas?
You know what I mean? Nowadays, we gotta give them
one. I know what I'm talking about. I'm there every day. Give
them out freely. He didn't have a coat. I said,
Timothy, bring that coat I left over there. For I know whom I
have believed. Those with faith, they know,
they believe, they commit, and they are persuaded of a person. Do you hear what I'm saying?
of a person. Faith has a person as its central
object. Thousands of people believe,
but they don't believe Christ. You understand what I'm saying?
Faith has a person as its central object. Faith has a person as
its central focus. Faith has a person as its central
devotion. Faith has a person as its central
loyalty. Paul, not because of Paul, but
Paul because of faith was devoted to Christ no matter where he
was. And no matter what his condition
was. And no matter what his physical state was. And this is the way
it is with all who have faith. We know whom we have believed. How many have you talked to and
they say, well, I made a profession of faith. Made a profession of
faith. What's that got to do with anything?
Paul says, I know whom I have believed. You see, faith is not
academic acceptance of Bible facts. It's not even academic acceptance
of Bible facts about Christ. Now certainly God's people accept,
we believe, we receive the facts of Scripture. There is no doubt
about that. But a person can do that and
not have true genuine faith. That's what I'm saying. Faith
is an intimate union in Christ with Christ. The one we've been
united to is the one, or united with, I'm sorry, the one we've
been united with is the one we're united to. Our rejoicing is in a person. I think it was John the Apostle
wrote, and he that hath the Son hath life. Not he that hath the
proper doctrine, the proper doctrine we do have. We'll look at that
in a moment. But it's he that hath the Son
hath life. Faith is not making a religious
profession about Christ. Faith is knowing Christ. I know
whom I have believed. Faith is believing Christ. Faith is committing things to
Christ. Faith is persuasion concerning
his ability. Right? Why? Because he says,
for I know whom I have believed. Thousands can tell you what they
believe. But they don't believe Christ.
But Paul says, and I'm saying this morning, faith, true, bonafide,
God-given faith says this, for I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day. It is that simple, yet that
profound. because we by nature cannot just
know. Who? The whom has to be revealed to
us. As a matter of fact, the whom has to come and lay hold
of us and conquer us and bring us down and subject us unto himself
first. First, secondly, secondly, faith
is never blind faith and faith is never abject ignorance. If
you ever talk with someone and they say, well, I don't know
much about all that. When you talk to them about some
particular doctrine or some particular truth of the word, well, I don't
know much about that, but I know what I believe. I know what I
believe. Don't matter what you believe.
It matters who you believe. And the fact is this, for I know
who. You see it? For I know whom I
have believed. I know whom. In other words,
I know this person that I believe. I know him. He is not some ancient
figure in some ancient book. He is in me, the hope of glory. I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day." Think about it. Even at
the beginning, faith knows Christ. Right at its first throes. Right
at its first throes. Believing is joined the gospel
proclamation go back and read. I'm not going to read it But
go back and read Romans 10 whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved but does that then mean that just anyone
can say Lord Jesus saved me and Automatically, they're already
saved. That's what that really means. Look at the next verses
You can't call on him unless you first believed in him Right? Isn't that what Paul goes on
to say? And you cannot believe in him unless you first heard
of him. And you can't hear of him unless God sends somebody
to you to preach him. Because naturally you can read
this Bible. It ain't gonna do you a lick
of good apart from God Almighty revealing the truth in it to
you. And most people I know don't just read the Bible and get Christ
revealed to them. God sends someone else to them
to preach this book to them, to preach Christ to them, and
that's how we come to believe. As a matter of fact, none of
us will ever believe apart from the instrumentality of another
fallen individual. You know how I know that? Even
if you just read this book, God reveals his son to you. Guess
who wrote this book? Fallen sinners wrote this book
God's not gonna come down and speak with you like he did with
Abraham God's not gonna come down speak with me like he spoke
with Abraham. Why because he hadn't ordained
that It pleased God this is why I said now I You don't find that
all throughout the Old Testament, but you do find it now. It pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that what?
Believe. Believe what? The person that
we're preaching. Because we don't preach ourselves,
we don't preach baptism, we preach what? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You see, the first throws of
faith, are concerning Christ and his person. I said concerning
his person. His person gave credence to his
work. Right? You see, the first thing
you begin to understand, the first thing God begins to reveal
to us is not the glory of what all he did, but the glory of
who he is. And you say, well, that's not
what I first understood. I'm gonna tell you something,
you don't realize it, but that is what you first understood.
This man is first, one thing you understand, he's able. because
he brought you by his grace to know his ability in spite of
your inability. And I'll give you an illustration
to this in a moment. So again, this is the first throes of faith
are concerning Christ and his person. His person gave credence
to his work. Paul says I'm separated under
the gospel of God. Then he says the gospel of God
is what? Concerning his son. And then what's the first thing
he says about him? Made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. That's who he is. You see, had he been just any
other old man, Joe, wouldn't have made a difference. Two others
died on crosses beside him. They have no redeeming power. Who he is gave credence to what
he did. A person, listen to me, a person
may know doctrine and a person may be orthodox and zealous in
that doctrine before they know Christ. but none are ever saved
until they know whom they have believed. Until they actually
believe in the person of Jesus Christ. I mean, folks, I know of some
who even profess free sovereign grace, but they go to a local
assembly where they have a female as their pastor. And she's not
even preaching free reigning grace. Now you tell me how that
is kosher. It ain't even kosher, let alone
is it spiritual or scriptural. Paul says, for I know whom I
have believed. You know what Christ said? Turn
to John chapter eight. It's just one verse. And you
know most of your, probably all of you are familiar with the
context. Turn to John chapter eight. And
there's one verse here. These were the Pharisees. And
it says in verse 19, then said they unto him, where is thy father? And that was a slur. Where is
thy father? Jesus answered, ye neither know
me. He's saying, this is your problem.
Right here is your problem. Ye neither know me, nor my Father. You see, a lot of people think
believing is just accepting Bible facts. Now granted, there's a
lot of error preached about the Bible, yea, even about Christ,
but I'm not even talking about that. You can believe in the
facts of who Jesus Christ is, but not know him. Exactly. That's
right. Ye neither know me nor my father. If ye had known me, ye should
have known my father also. Amen. This is just the facts. But now listen to me. When Paul
says, for I know whom I have believed, God's grace and mercy
was not bestowed upon Paul because he knew whom he had believed. He knew whom he had believed
because God had bestowed mercy and grace upon him. Now let's
not, don't take me wrong here. Don't say, don't say, Walter's
saying, no, Walter's saying this, true faith knows whom It has
believed. A person with true faith knows
whom they have believed. But God doesn't bestow grace
and mercy upon us because we know. We know and we believe because
he has bestowed grace and mercy upon us. Now I'll give you a
calendar. Now turn to, I should have stayed
with John chapter nine. I'll give you an illustration
of this. Remember there was a man who was born blind. Christ came
by and seen the man who was born blind. He didn't ask him if he
wanted anything. Not a thing. He went over and
spit. And you think about that, how
many of us would like somebody to do what happened here? Spit
on the ground, or spit and took dust from the ground and made
clay, made a spit ball out of dirt. And stuck it on the man's
eyes. Didn't ask him if he wanted it
or nothing. The man was so blind he probably didn't even see him
coming, Mason. Just walked up, I can see it now. And that had
to be a wad. I'm not trying to be stupid or
nothing. He made enough to make a big clay ball and put it on
the man's eyes and says, now, now, you go and wash in the pool
of Siloam. Now, did the pool of Siloam have
some great effect? No, but the master of the spit
and the clay ball says to do something, what do you do? You
just go do it. Now first of all, remember, the
man asked for nothing, neither did Christ ask him if he wanted
anything, he just freely gave it to him. And the ability to
go to the pool of Siloam, he was still, now he wasn't just
blind, he had spitballs on his eyes. He still had to somehow,
Mason, clamber his way to that pool. We're not even told how
he got there. But clearly he did, why? Because Christ had
determined he would. Now you getting the picture now?
He goes and washes in that pool, and now he sees! A few things happen, but finally
somebody says, well we need to take him to the Pharisees. They'll
straighten this deal out. So they took him to the Pharisees,
and the Pharisees said, who is he? And you know what he said?
A prophet. Prophet that's what he called
him a prophet Why because nobody? Nobody can do for me what he
did for me and not have some special place before God Well,
see his experience taught him at least that much and was he
not a prophet He was the prophet. But he still didn't know much,
did he? But they wouldn't stop there. They said, well, we don't
even really know if he was really born blind. This could all be
a hoax, right? That's what they were saying.
Go call his mom and daddy. Let's talk to them. And they
came and said, yeah, that's our boy. And yeah, he was born blind. But how he got to this condition,
and I'm thinking this ought to be a glorious condition. but
they were so afraid of being cast out of their synagogue,
that they just said, we don't wanna deal with, he's of age,
you go ask him. So they basically hauled him
back before him again. And then they said, we know this
man's a sinner, you give glory to God. He said, now, here's
what he said, whether he's a sinner, I don't know. He didn't know
much, did he? But what did he know? He said,
this I do know. Here's what I know, where once
I was blind, Now, bless God, now I'm adding that in, but now,
bless God, I see. And I'll tell you something,
folks. There's a whole lot I still don't know, but I know this.
There was a time when I was blind. Yes, that's it. And then something
happened to me that I began to see. And if you've ever been
really blind, and God Almighty's given you sight, and I'm talking
spiritually now, you're gonna know this. Whether you know much
at all, I know this, I was blind. Now, I see. And you know, the Lord God of
glory, God manifest in the flesh, So they say, you're all together
born in sins. Now think, all together born
in sins. These men knew what the Old Testament
taught about man's wicked heart, but you're all together born
in sins. And what'd they do? They put him out of the synagogue.
And what did this man do? He didn't do anything. Some man
had come along and made him to see. And did that man who made
him to see leave him in even that ignorance that he had? Did
he? No, after he'd heard he was cast out, he came and said, now
look. Verse 35, Jesus heard that they
had cast him out, and when he had found him, and let me tell
you, even after God saves you, he's still got to find you every
day. There's a sense in which he has to find you every day.
But the point is, thank God, he's looking for me every day. And when he had found him, he
said of him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he said,
well, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said
of him, thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with
thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Do you see that? Paul is saying
to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 verse 12, I worship this man. I ask you, do I worship this
man? That's the thing. That doesn't
matter how orthodox you are in doctrine. If you don't know whom
you have believed, you've never really believed. But thirdly, faith, true God-given
faith, is full of confidence in Christ. For I know whom I
have believed and am, what? Persuaded. Persuaded. But notice, faith is persuaded
in Christ's ability, right? and am persuaded that He is able. You see that? That's why when
you begin to have our little pity parties and, oh, I'm just
not so sure I'm one of God's. You've got to have your eyes
on something else. Because when you're looking at Him, there's
no reason to doubt. Are you a sinner? Yeah. Does He save sinners? Yeah. Were you blind? Yeah. Has He made you to see Him? That's
what he made the blind man even to see. Who is it? You see him. And you're talking, what? Talking. Not only do you see him, but
you what? Neil, you converse with this one. That's the one
you want to talk to. The one you have a relationship
with. An intimate, so much so that you can call his father
your papa. You can call his father your
papa. That sounds pretty close to me,
don't it to you? Mmm. Faith is full confidence
in Christ. Faith doesn't even look to itself.
Faith looks to Christ. Faith is not persuaded about
itself. Faith is persuaded about Christ.
That's why I first said faith has a person as a central object. Faith has a person as a central
focus. Faith has a person as a central
devotion. Faith has a person as a central
loyalty. And I'll tell you what he says
means a whole lot to you. Yes, sir. That's right. Why? Not only is faith persuaded,
but what does he say? It's persuaded of his ability. What would that be? His authority.
Persuaded of his power. Persuaded of his will. Persuaded
of his person. Persuaded of his work. Persuaded
of his way. Persuaded pertaining everything
that pertains to him. He has no lack of ability. The
only question is his will. That's the question. Whatever
subject you're talking about, he has the ability, the question
in his will. And that's what the one fellow
said, Lord, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst. You've got the ability. The question is, is it your will?
And that's still where Paul's at even after these years, Mason,
of believing and preaching the gospel as an apostle, establishing
maybe hundreds of local assemblies. But he's still left right here
having to trust Christ and being persuaded of his ability. He's
stuck in prison now. But even there, God gives him
some fruit. But you know what? God didn't
have to. It was God's business, was it not? Persuaded in Christ. And faith is particularly persuaded
this, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him. What did Paul commit unto him?
We certainly know that he committed the circumstances that he was
in to him, was he not? That's what he, for the which
cause I also suffer. These things, these things, nevertheless
I'm not ashamed. So we know at least that much
is true. But let me tell you, this is
my interpretation. This is my thoughts about it. I believe that Paul didn't particularly
list any certain particular thing because we would be prone to
zero in on just those particular things. Because let me tell you,
there's nothing in this world that we should not commit to
Him. Now, I'm not saying even as believers that we commit everything
to Him. We don't! But we should. He's able. I don't care how small
and insignificant it seems or how important and vast it seems. He's worthy and He's able to
have it committed unto Him. Paul committed one thing, I know,
his salvation to him. Read Paul's epistles. He committed
his gospel efforts to him. Did he not? I labor more abundantly
than all of them. Yet not I. Yet not I. He committed his gospel efforts,
he committed his physical well-being to him. And yea, even his very
life, that's in the context here, even in the context. He committed
his need of forgiveness of sin and sins to this person. He knew he was able. He committed
his freedom or his incarceration, either one to him, right? Whether
he was free or whether he was incarcerated, he knew this comes
by his almighty hand. He's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. whether it was Paul's wealth
or his lack thereof. When there was times, now listen,
when he had to work with his own hands because he refused
to take money, goods, whatever it was, from some assemblies.
And then at other times he wasn't able to work because maybe he
was locked up, but there were assemblies that gathered up stuff
and sent it to him. That's the context of all. Everything
was committed to who, though? To Christ. You see, nothing is
outside the realm of needed commitment to Christ. Now, I will give you
a couple things, and I don't mean for you to laugh about it.
Listen, you can go buy some clothes. Commit it to Christ. Because
this book even tells us about clothing and how we ought to
conduct ourselves in it, don't it? It's right here in this New
Testament. It tells us. You see, nothing
is outside the realm of needed commitment to Christ. You go
put new carpet down in the house? Seek God's face about it. It's
not, oh God, is this right or wrong? Who knows whether it's
right or wrong? One thing, if you got the money,
there ain't nothing wrong with it. If you don't have, you might
get in trouble. But the whole point is, commit
it to Him, no matter what it is. Because nothing is outside
the realm of commitment to Christ. Your relationships in this world,
commit them to Him. As I said, your wealth, your
poverty, your joys, your pains, your fears, commit it to Him. I wish I was able all the time
to commit it all to Him. But Mason, I don't. But I'll
tell you this, the faith that God gave me is able. The only reason I don't at any
given time is because of my rebellion, not any lack in his gift. You
hear what I say? The only reason that I don't
commit anything to him at all times is not because of a lack
in him. He gave me what I needed to commit
all to him. It's because I'm walking after
my own lust or whatever it might be. And I'm just saying, let's
call it what it is. But let's call commitment to
Christ what it is. It's committing everything. It's
committing everything. Oh, what a glorious, you know,
just think about it. If you believe Christ, if you
know whom you have believed, you got the same right as the
Apostle Paul to say what he says. For the which cause I suffer
these things, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. Now, I guarantee
you Paul was so ashamed about some of the things he had done.
But he's not talking about that, is he? For, for, here's what
he's talking about not being ashamed of, for I know whom I
have believed. And then persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. And somebody says, what's against
that day mean? Whatever day it takes. Whatever
day it is, whether it's the judgment, whether something's coming to
a head tomorrow. Don't fuss about that. Whatever this thing is, I should
commit it to Him because He's able to keep that which I've
committed unto Him against whatever day is necessary. If it's an
event happening tomorrow, commit it to Him. If it's eternal bliss,
commit it to Him, right? So then what is faith's conclusion
to all this? I am not ashamed. Now, it's perfectly okay to be
ashamed about yourself. I understand that. I know. It's perfectly okay to be ashamed
about yourself. But I have never had any reason
to be ashamed about him. Even when I doubt myself, and
even when I doubt if I'm one of his or not, Mason, I'm still
not ashamed of him. And that gives me reason to believe
I can say with Paul, for which cause I suffer these things,
whatever it is I'm in, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. For I know whom
I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day, and he'll keep
it. His ability will be carried out in his way. We are told by history tradition, Paul lost
his head. Right? Maybe even here at this
imprisonment. Now there's some disagree, some
people said he had two imprisonments, but that's not the point. That's
not the point. If he, Neil, if he had to put
his head down on a block and the sword come down on it, he
committed it to Christ. And that end was God's end for
him. And he's able, that when my breath, my lungs are trying
to suck it through a bloody nub here, he's able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day. So I'm supposed
to be all tore up about tomorrow? You know? Not when we walk by
faith. Now when we walk by sight, we'll
be tore up about everything. But when God enables us by His
grace to walk by faith, we can say, I'm not ashamed. No matter
what is happening today and no matter what today's tomorrow
brings, I commit it to Him because He's able. Father, teach us these
things by experience. But oh, God, give us that free
gift of faith that enables us to lay hold of Christ and His
ability. Thank you in his name. Amen. And I'm not that they're going
to play off again. He thought there was a bully.