And we must understand that the
Lord would always demonstrate two things in the scripture.
One is the weakness of men and his own strength and power. And
that's what we see with Gideon. He was a man like any mortal
man without doubts and fears and an inability to really grasp
the work of God. And yet the Lord would show that
all glory belongs to him because we see the weakness of Gideon
manifested, not this once but again. And yet the Lord calls
him a mighty man of valor because the Lord would make him a mighty
man of valor. And he did triumph. And so it is as the Lord deals
with us, his children. You know, our weakness is on
display constantly. And the man that doesn't see
his own weakness is not being taught by the Spirit of God.
Because the Spirit of God will convince us of sin, ours, of
righteousness, Christ, and judgment, which is to come for all men.
And so it is that we rejoice I think a lot of times when I
read about Gideon, I think about the disciples and really much
the same as the Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. And
the same night in which he was betrayed, and he prayed and he came to
his disciples and they were asleep. And he said, could you not watch
with me for one hour? Now, he wasn't amazed. He was merely pointing out that
they couldn't. When Peter began to sink, it's
often portrayed, well, you know, if Peter just had enough faith,
he'd have kept on walking. No, men can't walk on water.
The Lord Jesus Christ did. And the Lord would show Peter
that he couldn't. do that. What do you think would
have happened if Peter had walked all the way to the Lord? I mean,
Peter, his head would have been that big, you know. He'd have
been telling, say, there boys, you just got to have faith. Now
there's plenty of those kind of folks around today. They boast
of their faith. And they say, oh, see what we
have done. It's all by faith. If you just get a little bit
of it, you'd have it, you know, just like me. Well, brethren,
faith is the gift of God. And Gideon couldn't believe.
He couldn't believe, even after that fleece, I mean, you know
good and well, Gideon, he was still a little bit, well, you
know, I had to fleece both ways, but
there's still in the back of his mind a little bit of a question. And so it is. But we need not
fear, because if the Lord is for us, who can be against us? And He doesn't gauge our faith
and then decide to bless us on the basis of it. But He blesses
us as He gives us faith to believe Him. And what a glory it is when
He gives us a mind and heart to trust in Him, not fearing. That is, as David said, I will
trust in the Lord and not be afraid. But it's also okay because
he said, in such times as I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord. So whether you're afraid or whether
you're not afraid, it's all of the Lord and our trust is in
Him. We're looking in 2 Timothy and
chapter 2 and we looked down through verse
8 last week And I want to begin there in
verse 9 and read a few verses. Wherein I suffer trouble as an
evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful
saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with
him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him,
he will also deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. Of these
things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord
that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting
of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings,
for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will
eat as doth a canker. of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,
who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection
is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. I'll stop right there. Paul, of course, is speaking
to Timothy about the fact that he is imprisoned for the cause
of Christ. He says, when I suffer trouble,
he says, just like an evildoer. Now, you remember Peter said
that if we suffer, let it be for the right reason. And Paul
suffered as if he was an evildoer. He was not an evildoer insofar
as the government of the world is concerned. Now, all of us
are evildoers. He claimed he was the chief of senators. So
in that respect, he was an evildoer. And what could ever befall us
that we don't deserve to happen to us? You know, how many times,
I don't know if you've ever been stopped for speeding or some
traffic infraction. And usually it kind of makes
you mad, you know, that you got caught. But just think of all
the times that you have done that and you didn't get caught.
And so, you know, when you get caught, you're just getting what
you deserve. So you shouldn't ever say anything, but you should
be glad. It's like I heard a fellow say
one time that a boy needs to be whipped every day. Because
if his daddy doesn't know what it's for, he says the son does.
So you know, that is the way that it is. So Paul says here
that he suffered as an evildoer, just like an evildoer. Even though
he was not, even under bonds, But the Word of God is not bound.
He said it doesn't make any difference what kind of a prison they might
put me in or what they might do to me. He said the Word of
God is not bound. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal. It does not depend on me, he
said. Now a lot of preachers would be shocked to hear that.
You know, that it does not depend on them. It doesn't depend on
anything men say or do or whatever. The Word of God is not bound. If God sends His Word, it will
be heard. And if it be heard, it will be
believed. And if it be believed, then indeed,
salvation has come to that house when it is believed. So the word
of God is not in any wise hindered by what men do, by what men don't
do, nor is it helped by what they do. You know, now it's a
privilege to be given to declare the word of God, to be able to
witness unto another person that they might see the glory of Christ,
that they might believe, that's a glorious thing. But be understanding
of this, that all of these things are in the hand of the Lord to
bring them to pass as he sees fit. And what he sins, he'll
prosper. That's a glorious thing. See,
the word of God can never return void. It can never go out and,
you know, well, it didn't accomplish anything. Now that's the problem
that we have, or one of the problems that we have with the modern
day gospel. that presents Christ as one who
died for all men if they had just let Him save them, but He
can't really save anybody without their free will choice. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners, and He'll save all those
which were given to Him. What a glorious Savior He is,
because He's an absolute Savior. If He saves a man, that man's
saved. There's no danger of anything befalling him, and we read about
that here. We'll talk about it here in a
minute. So Paul said, therefore I endure all things for the elect's
sake. Now many say, well if you believe
what you believe, that God has a people that he chose in Christ
from before the foundation of the world, why are you preaching
the gospel? Because he said to. Number one, because he sent me.
Number two, and On top of that, our purpose in preaching the
gospel is to magnify the glory of Christ in the salvation of
sinners. Because it is in that magnification
of Christ, as He's the Savior of sinners, that He said He would
draw men. He said, if I be lifted up, that
is, if Christ be seen on the cross of Calvary, that's the
thing that causes men to come to Him. It's not the eloquence
of men, it's not the great persuasive arguments or anything else, but
it's the revelation of Christ as the Savior that breaks the
hearts of men and causes them to come unto Him. That's that
word of reconciliation. It's a word of grace, it's a
word of mercy, it's a word of kindness from the throne of God
to say unto sinners, come unto me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. See, that's the mercy of
God. Now, men can't get it. They can't gain it. They can't
earn it. They can't find it. But the Lord's
pleased to give it according as he sees fit. But Paul said,
I endure all these things for the elect's sake. Now, we preach
the gospel to all men. It's a sincere message to all
sinners. See, we're not trying to get
the world, every man in the world saved because we couldn't do
that if we wanted to because Christ is the Savior and He has
accomplished exactly what He wants to do. But we are interested
in preaching the gospel so that the elect might hear it and rejoice
in it. And that's what Paul said, I
endure all these things for the elect's sake. For those who are
chosen in Christ, that they may also obtain the salvation which
is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. That they may obtain it. Now see, what does he mean by
that? Now, what he doesn't mean by
that is that a man can get something that's not intended for him.
In other words, that a man can somehow or other reach out and
get something just by his own power. But you see, he said he
endured all things for the elect's sake that they might obtain that
which is appointed for them. Now that might seem foolish to
the natural man, but you see, in the understanding that the
Spirit of God teaches us and how the Lord works in people,
that's a glorious thing. Because when the Spirit of God
opens a man's eyes, who's dead in trespasses and sins, to see
the glory of Christ, it is then that he has obtained salvation. Now, insofar as the certainty
of His salvation is concerned, it's never been in doubt from
the beginning. And when Christ said it is finished,
all the work for the salvation of that man has been accomplished.
But you see, the Lord doesn't leave His people in darkness,
but He calls them unto Himself. And that's what Paul means, that
they may obtain it. that they may hear it. You see,
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Because
it is that which is sent by the Lord. How shall they preach that? How shall men believe except
they hear? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? And
so it is that this is the means and the method by which the Lord
is pleased to cause the saints of God to obtain Eternal salvation. What a glorious thing. Who can
overturn it? It is a faithful saying, if we
be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we suffer,
we shall also reign with Him. It's a faithful saying, for if
we are dead with Christ, we sing that song, I believe I was there
when Christ was crucified. And dear brethren, we were, if
we were in Christ, we were with Him. We were with Him when He
walked in the sorrows of this world in our behalf. We were
with Him when He obeyed the law, and it's John 10. We were with
Him and in Him when He sinned not. Neither was guile found
in His mouth. We were in Him when He hung on
Calvary's cross. And we were in Him when He rose
from the dead. Oh, what a glorious Savior He
is. And so, it is a faithful saying, if we be dead with Him,
we shall also live with Him. Because you see, the Lord gives
life to His children. Now, it is a true thing that
we are dead in trespasses and sins until such time as He is
pleased to call us to awaken us by the power of His Spirit
and to give us life. Now, we're marked out for it.
But there's a moment in time when that life becomes ours. It's what the Lord said to Nicodemus.
He said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of heaven. And so it is that the Lord is
pleased to awaken his children by sending his spirit as that
one which, as the wind blows where it lifts and we hear the
sound thereof, but we can't tell from whence it came or whence
it's going. But oh, the result of the wind
can be seen. We can see where the wind has
been. And that's exactly what he's speaking about here. If
we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. See, that
man who claims to be alive in Christ and yet doesn't live in
Christ, what was he speaking of? What life does he have? If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. just like he did. If we deny
him, he also will deny us. Now, let's talk about that for
a minute, because then he says this, if we believe not, yet
he remaineth faithful, he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Now, you know that, I've never
heard anybody of the other persuasion give a good explanation of this
because it can't be explained except in one way and that is
that he says if we deny him he also will deny us now what's
he speaking about there is he saying like Peter when Peter
denied knowing him did he deny Christ well in a measure you
could say that he did but that's not what he's talking about here
Because Peter did deny, did he not? Then he knew him. But see, Peter was never very
far from knowing who Christ was. Was he? Did he not say, is he
not the same one that said, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure.
that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so
it is that if a man comes, if a man is of such persuasion that
he would deny these things, then indeed we shall be denied before
the Lord. But you see, none of those who
belong to Him are ever going to be in such a situation as
that. That's not, in other words, our
salvation doesn't depend on what we say or whatever. But it depends
on what Christ did. And we are weak. And those same
words that came out of Peter's mouth could possibly come out
of your mouth if you belong to him. But look at what it says
here in the next verse. If we believe not, when we get
weak and our faith is almost non-existent, and we have doubts
and fears about those things, Yet, he abided faithful. See,
Peter was sifted as wheat, was he not? I don't know if you've
ever seen grain when it's sifted, or flour. You might have seen,
you ladies, y'all, of course, I don't think anybody sifts flour
much anymore. I remember my mother used to
see her with that little old thing, you know, sifting, but
I don't know, does people still do that? I guess they do. I don't
know, but anyway, I don't know how I got off on that, but anyway,
that's the same thing. You know, when you think about
that flower being stirred with that little wire going through
there and forced through that screen on that thing, that's
being sifted. They sifted the flower. Well,
Peter was sifted. That's weak. I mean, the devil
took him up and down and just stomped on him. But it was all
for Peter's benefit. Well, the Lord said to him, Peter,
you're gonna deny me three times. You're gonna do it. Peter said,
no, I'm not gonna do that. All these others now, I tell
you what, they might turn away, but not me. Lord, I'll die for
you. And he said, Peter, I've prayed
for you that your faith fail not. Because, see, that's what
he means here, if we believe not. Yet he abided faithful. See, it doesn't matter how strong
your faith is. It doesn't matter how weak your
faith is. Christ is your faith. Now, if Christ is not your faith,
if you deny that Christ is your faith, then you have no faith. You're without help. You're without
hope. But Christ is our faith. If we
believe not, yet he abideth faithful. Why is it that we have eternal
life? It's because he lives. I mean,
we don't have eternal life as some power or force that's in
us that we control. We have life because he is life. He is the one who lives. And
so if we live, we live in him. If we believe not, yet he abided
faithful, he cannot deny himself. You know, Paul said, God who
cannot lie. Now God can do anything, can
he not? I mean, he sent a deceiving spirit
to the prophets of old. He says he'll cause men to believe
a lie. So it doesn't mean in some moralistic
sense in which men sometimes try to camp on God who cannot
lie. He cannot lie because He will
not lie. Whatever He says, He will do.
You can count on that. No one can ever say God will
not do what He says He will do. And so He cannot deny Himself. I mean, does God have some kind
of weakness? No, that's not weakness, that's
strength. He cannot deny himself. You and I can. We can deny our
own self. I mean, we can say one thing
one day and one thing the next, but not the Lord. He will not
do so. He's a faithful God. He cannot
deny himself. Of these things put them in remembrance,
charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words
to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Now, we ought
to put one another in remembrance of the truth of the gospel. All
of those things that he's said forth here. And that we're not
to go forth knowing these bedrock truths and then bicker and have
strife over meaningless points, things that are immaterial, things
that we have no way of knowing. Men often fall out over the craziest
stuff. Brethren, not heeding what he's
saying here, don't strive by words to no profit. That's why
Paul said, I determined to know nothing among you, say Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Well, what do you think about
this? Well, it's okay to have an opinion about it, but don't
think that your opinion about some point of this or the other
makes any real difference. Because you don't know anything
as you ought to know. And so what do we know? There's
only two things that we need to know. One is what a great
sinner we are. And two is what a great Savior
Christ is. That's the only two things you
need to know. I mean, if you know that, I mean, if you really
know that, then that's the essence of truth. That's what we are
to strive to know. Oh, that the Lord might teach
us such things as that. To no profit but to the subverting
of the hearers. How often have men been led astray
by this little point, or that little point, or this idea of
some nuanced doctrine that, you know, the person who's even teaching
it don't really understand, and yet he's gained him up a following
of people that's gonna have this little thought, and if you say
something different than what they say, then, you know, you're
out. In fact, I've known a group of
folks that said, well, if you don't say it the way we say it,
then you're, Wrong. Well, you know, I don't know
if I say it right or not, but I'll say this. Jesus Christ is
the Lord of glory, the Savior of sinners. And all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. And I know that to be true. And there's no equivocation on
that. It doesn't make any difference
what someone may say. shun profane and vain babblings. Now that's what he calls them,
for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And then he said,
as he read that, but going back to what he said about striving
about works, he said, study to show thyself approved unto God.
Now, I wanted to make a few comments about that verse, and then we'll
be done, but Now often this verse, and I'm not saying you can't
make an application of this verse to Paul's exhorting Timothy to
study the scriptures in the sense of reading them and pondering
over them. I'm not saying that we shouldn't
do that or that that's not something that can be done or ought to
be done, but I don't think that's what Paul's telling Timothy here
when he says, study to show thyself approved unto God. What he's
saying there, the word study means to apply oneself. And so
I believe what he's saying here is apply yourself to this matter
of showing yourself approved unto God, not falling into this
trap of striving about words to no profit. Now indeed, show
yourself to be a workman rightly that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth, not thinking that you've
got every answer. but that you know that the truth
of God rests in the simple fact of the gospel, that Jesus Christ
was born of a virgin, that he came into the world and he walked
among men, that he died a sinner's death in the behalf of his people,
and that he rose again on the third day. Now that, dear brethren,
is the truth of God. Study to show yourselves that
you are workmen, needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. That is, look at your life and
your mind and your heart as you ponder these things. Set your
mind that those are the things that you will know. Now that's
not to say there's other things indeed that the Lord would lead
you in, but this is the basic truth of God. And all of these
things, I mean a man can be wrong about a lot of things, but if
he's wrong about Christ, he's wrong about everything. I mean,
that's where the truth of God is, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, if we would walk according
to that workman-like fashion of following the Lord, we must
follow His truth. Rightly dividing the Word with
truth, what does it tell us? Shunning profane and vain babblings,
for they will increase into more ungodliness.