Second Timothy chapter 1 and
verse 1, we read, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will
of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy and peace from
God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom
I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience that without
ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and
day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears
that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee
also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance,
that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting
on of my hands. For God hath not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel. Whereunto I am appointed
a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For
the which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I
am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words
which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus, that good thing which was committed unto thee, keep
by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. This thou knowest, that
all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom
are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord give mercy unto the
house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me and was not
ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome, he sought
me out very diligently and found me. The Lord grant unto him that
he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And in how many
things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very
well." I think many times that we often
have a very rose-colored picture of what life was like in the first
century church. And I believe that we oftentimes
romanticize it and we look at it in a fashion that belies the
truth of it. Paul, I believe, was the greatest
preacher of the gospel that the Lord saw fit to send into the earth to
proclaim it, of course, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, though
Paul himself said that he was not a great orator. Now the gift
of oratory is not the gift of preaching. Now it is a true thing that sometimes
the Lord causes a man to have the gift of oratory and the gift
of preaching, but there is a big difference between being able
to speak in a fashion that holds the attention of people and is
what people want to hear and preaching that which is the Word
of God. in such a fashion as it is sent
from God. Now, Paul said this, he often
brought recognition of this, but most especially at the end
of his life, which of course this epistle to Timothy is one
of those, he made mention of the fact that he was an apostle.
of Jesus Christ. Now it is my opinion in my study
of the Scripture that there are only twelve apostles, that there
has never been more than twelve apostles, and there will never
be more than twelve apostles. And it is my opinion, again,
having studied the Scriptures, that the early church, though
well-meaning in setting up an apostle to take the place of
Judas, nonetheless jumped the gun and did something that was
not the purpose of God in setting
forth an apostle. Now, we know that it was the
purpose of God in doing what it did, because all things are
according to the purpose of God in doing what it did. But it
was not the purpose of God to set up Matthias as one of the
apostles even though he was recognized as such among the early church
because of the fact that they picked the lots and the lot fell
upon him. And so they said, well, he'll
be numbered among us. Of course, you know you always
have differences of opinion about that, and of course I can't prove
what I'm saying any more than anybody else can prove otherwise,
but it seems to me, as I look at what an apostle is and at
the comments that the apostle Paul said concerning himself,
that he was indeed an apostle. unless what he said here is not
true. So he was an apostle. Now the
only other alternative that we have is that there are more than
twelve apostles. But I don't think that ultimately
you can... I believe ultimately the Scripture
will prove out that the apostles were those whom the Lord specifically
appointed unto a purpose. They were all individually called
directly by the mouth of the Lord. They were all witnesses
of the resurrection. And they were given a gift which
was not repeated again. And so the Apostle Paul says
here, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. Now, if something is by the will
of God, then it cannot be overturned. Now, we know on the one hand
that all things are by the will of God. There is nothing that
transpires in the world that is not according to the will
of God. But then there is a mention of
the will of God that is carries with it a little more weight
than if we say, well, that was God's will. We know that all
things are according to God's will, but it is according to
God's direct purpose that Paul was an apostle. He didn't just
take it upon himself, is what he's saying. He didn't just decide,
well, I think I'm an apostle. He said, I'm an apostle by the
will of God. He said it was according to the
purpose of God. because he mentions the fact
that he was as one who was born out of due time. That is, he
was not born, not that he was necessarily not born, but at
least he was not in the place at the time when the Lord originally
called the twelve apostles at that time as men understood and
as the Lord designated. But he said there was one of
those original apostles who was not an apostle at all because
he was apostate, but he was called for a purpose. As the Lord mentions
in his prayer, he said, Of all those thou hast given me, I have
lost none except the son of perdition. Because he was chosen for a purpose.
Judas was chosen for a purpose. Now, because Adam's chosen for
a purpose, that's not necessarily insofar as the man chosen for
the purpose is concerned a good thing, is it? Because the Lord
said about Judas, He said it would have been better for him
if he had never been born. Now that has caused a lot of
people a lot of consternation now through the years, but dear
brethren, it should cause us no consternation at all because
it just confirms the fact that all things are ordained of God
to occur as He sees fit for them to occur. And He chose Judas
just as much for the purpose of betraying him as he chose
the rest of his apostles to be faithful and walk and preach
the gospel. Just as much the purpose, but
it was for a different purpose. And so Paul says here, I'm an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. I didn't take this
to myself. I didn't decide that I would
be. I was going along my way, minding my own business. I didn't
even want anything to do with the gospel, he says. I was content
to be a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I was content to persecute the
church of God. That was the thing I was looking
for. That was the thing I delighted in. I didn't have a mind to anything
else. But he said, But God, who is
rich in mercy, He arrested me on that way, and according to
the will of God, He made me an apostle. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God according to the promise of life which
is in Christ Jesus. Now, the apostle Paul knew that
the apostleship that he was given was first and foremost the result
of the fact that he was ordained unto eternal life. Now, we read
in the book of Acts that as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed. How are the elect discovered?
How can you know who the elect are? Because they believe. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. If a man believes the gospel,
Now, I'm not talking about if he makes a decision. I'm not
talking about if he does something through an act of his own free
will just because he determines to do it. But I'm saying if a
man believes the gospel according to what the Scripture speaks
about that believing the gospel is, if he believes the gospel,
it's because he was ordained unto eternal life. And so Paul
says here, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God
according to His purpose, he says, which was according to
the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. Now where is
the life that we have? The Lord Jesus said to the woman
at the well, if you had asked of me, I would have given you
water that you would drink of that would be in you a well of
water springing up into eternal life. Where is the life of God's
people? In Christ. He has given us life
in Christ and we have life in Christ because He has put us
in Christ. And the reason we believe is
because we have life. You see, a man does not believe
the gospel in order to get life. Now, when I was young, that was
basically what I was taught, was that in order to get eternal
life, you had to believe. But that's putting the cart ahead
of the horse. Because only the man who has
been given life will believe. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life, they were given life. When were they given life? Well, there came a point in time
in which that which was dead was made alive. So there is a
point in time in their existence when they actually had life bestowed
upon them. But when was the gift of life
given to the children of God? Absolutely right. Before they
were ever born, before they ever knew anything, they were given
life in Jesus Christ. They were chosen in Christ from
before the foundation of the world. And so it is that he speaks
here of his apostleship in the same light in which he speaks
of the fact that he is a child of God. And so every one of God's
people are ordained unto a purpose in the kingdom of God. Not all
of us are ordained unto the apostleship. None of us are. The church is built upon the
foundation of the prophets and the apostles, Jesus Christ Himself
being what? The chief cornerstone. So Jesus
Christ is the very foundation upon which the other foundation
rests, but the foundation of the church is built upon the
apostles, that is, upon the Word of God that was given through
them. Because the Word of God has come
to us through the apostles. And were it not that He gave
it to us, what would we be doing? I mean, we're a blessed people.
Now, it's in the purpose of God to do things just like He did,
but if you think of all the what-ifs, think of all the what-ifs. Now
men are not a bit different today than they were in his day. Everybody
is the same. That man has always been the
same ever since Adam was born. He is exactly like you and I. All of us are prone to sin and
we go towards it with all that is within us. And so we see. that he mentions
down here in verse 15. He says something
quite startling to those who look through rose-colored glasses
at the early days of the church and think that everybody was
just coming into the church and believing and things were great. He said, This thou knowest, that
all they which are in Asia are turned against me." Wow! Oh, what very popular was he
in Asia! Now, it is a fact that all men
would depart from the Lord, all of us having believed the gospel
at least insofar as we think we've believed it, every one
of us without exception would depart from the Lord tomorrow
if he does not keep us. Now the promise is to his children
that he will keep them. But the sands of time are littered
with the carcasses of those who made professions of faith and
turned aside and walked no more with the Lord. Now, modern religion tells us,
well, they're just carnal Christians. You know, they got in. They got
their ticket punched. They believed. And since you
can't be lost once you're saved, I mean, they were saved and so
here they are. This Word of God doesn't teach
us any such thing. And Paul wasn't a fly-by-night
apostle. He didn't cease being an apostle,
did he? Why? Because he was called of
God according to the purpose of God and according to the promise
which was given to him before the foundation of the world.
Now, he which has promised will perform that until the day of
Jesus Christ. If he has promised it, then he
will do it. And Paul said, I am an apostle
sent by the will of God according to the promise of life which
is in Christ Jesus. Now over here in the book of
Titus, I believe it is, Titus 1 and 2, Paul, a servant
of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's
elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness
in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began. God that cannot lie. Is God unable to do something? He is not unable to do anything
that He wills to do. What you see is not in the character
and purpose of God to deceive His elect. Now, the Scriptures tell us that
He does sin deception and He does deceive those who are in
darkness. He hardens the heart. He hardened
the heart of Pharaoh, did he not? Now the Scripture says also
that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. It was the way of his heart. But you see, God is the first
cause of all things. But when the Scripture says,
God which cannot lie, it's not talking about God lacking some
ability. It's talking about the fact that
in his character he will not deceive those whom he loves. He's faithful. He's true. He will do what he says he's
going to do. The Lord said that he would destroy
the wicked. You better be sure that he will
not lie about that. He said he would preserve the
faithful. You can be sure that he will not lie about that. God
which cannot lie. promised before the world began. And that's the promise of life
which is in Christ Jesus. But getting back to Paul's situation,
why is Paul making such an emphasis of the fact that he is an apostle?
Because there were many deceivers that came in the early church
just as there are multitudes in the present time. Now, the
present day is not the only day when there are deceivers that
have come into the church. Now, there are plenty of them
today. You don't have to look far to find plenty of those that
would lead God's people astray. Now, they may tell God's people
partial truths. But they will ultimately lead
men astray from Christ because there is one thing that the children
of God are called upon to believe, and that is in the finished work
and the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ as the basis
upon which they stand accepted before Almighty God. And any
message which does not have that at its center is a deceptive
message. It doesn't matter who speaks
it. It's a lie. It's a deception. And it will
turn men away from the truth. And this is what Paul is speaking
about here. He said, all they which are in
Asia, all the churches in Asia, there's a bunch of them. Think
about that. Now, why aren't these churches,
why isn't the church at Ephesus Still there. All they which are
in Asia, he said, are turned against me. Thyatira? Why are those churches
not there? Because they departed away from
the Gospel. Now, did the Lord have people
in those churches? Well, sure He did at some point
in time, but because a church continues on in its form does
not mean that the Lord is in the midst of it. I mean, if you look at all those
churches that the Lord warns in the book of the Revelation,
they were real churches, assemblies. But they are not existent today. We don't find them anywhere.
Why is that? Because they departed from the
truth. They were given over to fables. And I'm amazed. I've seen it
in my own lifetime. Churches that at one time had
sound biblical foundations that they stood upon, little by little
depart from it, and then one day anything goes. And so Paul is very emphatic
in setting forth the fact that he is an apostle according to
the will of God in contrast to those who were no apostles at
all, who were false apostles, who went about to – what did
he tell the Ephesian elders in the twentieth chapter of Acts? He said, and who did he say,
where did he say they were going to come from? He didn't say they
were going to, now watch out for these people coming over
here from down the road or these other countries coming in here.
No, he didn't say that, did he? He said, of your own selves,
some of those that were there with Paul right then, he said,
of your own selves shall men arise speaking lies. and deceiving men and drawing
them after their self. There is nothing more common
than religious leaders with charisma and eloquence and oratory and
the ability to persuade men to follow them to gain great followings. Now, all you've got to do is
turn the radio or TV on if you don't believe that to be true.
And a lot of them are saying a lot of good stuff. I'm not
saying they don't say a lot of good stuff. But you will look
hard and find to find them saying that it's Jesus Christ and Him
alone, His righteousness with nothing added to it. It's grace
and nothing else. I'm not saying there's not some,
but I'm saying that you've got to look hard. You can't just
pick out anyone you desire because there are deceivers among us. Now, why would I even point that
out? Because, dear brethren, none
of us are immune in the flesh. And we need to be mindful of
our own self. Why did Paul say, examine yourselves? To do what? To see if you'd be
in the faith. That's what he said. Examine
yourself to see if you'd be in the faith. How do we know we're
in the faith? Because we adhere to what Paul
taught in the Scriptures. What did he teach? He said, I
determine to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ. and Him crucified. And dear brethren, if there is
anything else that men make an issue out of other than Christ and Him alone, not Christ and what you do. I
have been in correspondence with a young man this week And he was the one that preached
or spoke at the memorial service for my cousin. And I corresponded
with him and asked him some questions. And he's been kind in our correspondence. And we've not shot each other
or anything like that. We're, you know, having a conversation. I will say this. He was at least
honest in what he said. He said Jesus Christ made salvation
a possibility. I said right there is where you
and I differ in all things. And because of that, we are not
even close to being on the same page because to believe that
Jesus Christ made salvation possible is not the gospel. Now there
are a lot of things that can be said, a lot of scriptures
and a lot of things that he brought forth that I would 100% agree
with. But upon that is the point at
which we diverge and can find no place of agreement. Because if what Christ did and
what we come to this place today to remember Dear brethren, if
all that what he did here was make it possible for us to be
saved, we're in deep trouble. Because outside of the fact that
that's not what the Scripture says, how can we be saved by
that which makes something possible? If something's possible, what
would make it absolute? Would it be the free will of
men? That's what they say. I mean, that's exactly... I mean,
he wasn't ashamed to say it, which I'll give him more than... I'll give him that, that he's
exactly honest in what he was setting forth. A lot of these guys, they believe
the exact same thing that he did, but they would be afraid
to say it like that. They really believe the exact
same thing. Because they know from what the Scripture teaches
that men are saved by grace. Now just because somebody says
they believe men are saved by grace does not mean they mean
the same thing that Paul meant when he said we are saved by
grace through faith, that not of yourselves. It is the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Because men will boast. They'll say, well, those folks
are going to hell, but we're not, because we've believed. The world is going to destruction, and the only reason that we're
not headed in the same direction if indeed it is us that's not
headed in that direction is because of the grace and mercy of God
and that which Paul speaks about here according to the promise
of life which is in Christ Jesus which God gave before the foundation
of the world. Now, if the promise which was
given to Abraham 435 years before the law was sure and steadfast,
and it could not be overturned. Think how much more sure that
promise is which was given to Christ before the foundation
of the world, the promise of life in Christ unto all those
which were given to Him. Now, dear brethren, that's the
basis and the place upon which we stand. And it's a place of
great rejoicing. And it is a true thing that a
man does not have to be able to articulate that particular
thing, but he does need to know upon what it is that he has believed. Paul said, for this cause I suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed.
For I know whom I have believed." Now, we come here this morning
to remember the Lord's death, and He comes again. And by partaking of this, we
agree with the Apostle Paul. We say we know whom We have believed. We don't know whom we think has
made salvation a possibility if we carry through and hold
out faithfully and do all the things that God said to do and
by our own works and merit we somehow get God to take notice
of us and give us an entrance into the kingdom of heaven. But
we know whom we have believed. And we are persuaded, Paul said, I know whom I have believed,
and because I know whom it is I have believed, I am persuaded."
I'm convinced. You see, you can't have belief
without persuasion. How shall they believe in Him
of whom what? They have not heard. You see, if you have not heard
The Gospel, you can't very well believe it, can you? If you haven't
heard it. If it has not been brought, as
he said there in the book of, well, in this same thing, it
said, this has brought life and immortality to light. That's
what the Gospel does. It brings life and immortality
to light. It doesn't bring life. The gospel
can't confer life to you. The Spirit of God alone can confer
life to those to whom He has promised that life. But you see,
it is the gospel that brings the life and immortality to light,
that we can see it for what it is. And it is the preaching of
the gospel in the sinning portals, the bread and the wine, as it
declares the work of Christ in our behalf. And we know whom
we have believed. Who is it that we have believed?
Have you believed me? I don't want you to believe me.
I hope by the grace of God that you believe the same one Paul
said. He said, For I know whom I have believed Jesus Christ. He's that one. And he said, I
am convinced, I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which
I have committed unto Him. He didn't say, because I have
committed myself to Him. That's not what he said. What
did he commit to Him? He committed to him the belief. See, that is what belief is.
It is committing to something. I have used this illustration
before, but when I was trying to teach my kids to swim, I can
remember Caleb especially. It was hard for him to let go
of the side of the pool. Now he wanted to come to me,
but he liked holding on to the side of the pool better than
he liked coming to me, because he knew what he had when he was
holding on to the pool. But the day came when he made
what? A commitment. He committed himself so he believed,
you see, that he could make it. There. He believed that I wasn't
going to let him go. Now that's what it is to believe
the gospel. It's to believe Christ. It's
not to believe we're in. Oh, brother, do you believe you're
saved? Paul didn't say, Brother, I know
I'm saved. He says, I know whom I believe.
And he said, whether I'm saved or not, I know whom I've believed.
And I'm convinced of this, that he's able to keep that which
I have committed, I've believed. If that's not enough, then it
just won't be enough. But he says, I know he's able.
And you see, he's the one upon whom our faith and our hope rests,
the object of faith. It's not the activity of faith.
Now, the thing that's emphasized in our day and time is the activity
of faith. Brother, you've got to have faith.
You've just got to have faith. Do you have faith? I'm not asking you, do you have
faith? I'm asking you, in whom have
you believed? You see, that is the thing. It is the object, the one in
whom you have believed, that you have committed yourself unto
Him. I have committed it unto Him
against that day. That is why Job said, he did
not say, Brother, I know I am saved. Did he? What did he say? He said, Though He slay me, yet
will I trust in Him. Though I do not know what the
outcome is, Yet will I trust Him. Now, dear
brethren, the Lord is pleased to give to His people a hope
and an expectation in the outcome. And while it's impossible for
man to climb up on a ladder to heaven and see his name written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, it is possible by the grace of God
that a man can confess even as the Apostle Paul did, for I am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day, because I trust him. I know whom I have believed. Dear brother, that is all we
ever hope to do is preach Christ. and Him crucified. And we believe
that those who are ordained unto eternal life will believe. They
will embrace that. And they will say to the Apostle
Paul, I know whom I have believed. Oh, how dim and how cold our
hearts are from time to time. But he never falters. And our confidence is in the
hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised, the
Scripture says, before the world began. Oh, what a glorious place
to stand! I can't think of a better place
to stand. I can't think of a better way
in which God's people can be reminded of that hope than in
the bread and the wine which are the symbols of his body and
his blood which was given in the behalf of his people. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man should die for his friends. But this man, even while we were yet sinners,
did die. What a glorious thought! May
the Lord give us a mind this day to be able to confess with
the Apostle Paul, I know whom I have to leave. And I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day.