Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'll be preaching from the book of 2 Timothy, 2
Timothy chapter 1. This is Paul's second letter
to a young man named Timothy, a young evangelist, a young preacher
who Paul had tutored and kind of taken under his wing. In fact,
Paul calls himself Timothy's father in the faith, not in the
sense of trying to take a role as God or anything like that,
God the father, only one father, and that's God. But in the realm
of this world, Paul had instructed this young man who'd been taught
the gospel by his mother and his grandmother. And here in
2 Timothy chapter one, Paul relates the gospel And he does it in
the context of God's purpose and grace. And that's the title
of this message. God's purpose, God's grace, God's
purpose and grace. And Paul, when he wrote this
letter, he was probably in prison or in chains because of his preaching
of the gospel. And so when he writes Timothy,
he talks about his dearly beloved son in the faith and how he's
going to encourage Timothy to continue in the preaching of
the gospel and not be discouraged by Paul's situation. Many of
the churches that Paul had been instrumental in starting, in
the Gentile world especially, that when they heard about Paul
being arrested and being tried and all of that, they were discouraged. And you can understand that,
how after having learned the true gospel and being set free
in your mind and heart, from the bondage of legalism and false
salvations and idolatry. And then you hear about the man
who God used to preach that gospel to you, to teach it and form
the church, and he's in prison. And you might, if we think naturally,
you know, we'd say, well, is there something wrong with this
message? But there's nothing wrong with the message. The world
hates this message. The Bible tells us that. Christ
told his disciples that. When he said in John chapter
15, he said, marvel not if the world hates you. It hated me
before it hated you. He even said, they'll throw you
out of their worship services. They'll kick you out of the synagogues.
because they don't wanna hear the message that exposes their
evil deeds. And those evil deeds are religious
deeds. You see, that's the thing about
the gospel. And when we read about God's purpose and God's
grace here, the gospel according to the power of God that Paul
calls it, it's a message that reveals the one and only way
of salvation by God's sovereign grace based upon or through the
merits of the works of one person and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
His blood, His death on the cross to put away the sins of His people,
His righteousness which is the entire merit of His whole work
of redemption His obedience unto death, His righteousness, which
God has imputed to all of His people, charged to all of His
people. And that's the only, He's the only way of salvation.
And our works are totally 100% excluded from the ground of attaining
or maintaining salvation. Now, don't get me wrong. And
don't misrepresent me. There are works to be done. But
those works are the fruit, the effect, the product of salvation,
not the cause or the ground of blessings. Christ said, I'm the
vine, you're the branches, and you're gonna bear fruit. And
that's what the works of believers are. I quote so many times on
this program, Ephesians 2, eight through 10, because it's such
a good summary. of this situation where he says,
for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves,
even faith, even believing is the fruit of the works of Christ. It's not the, faith is not the
condition that we fill in the blank to make it effectual to
us. Faith is the product of what
Christ did on the cross. He said, I, if I be lifted up,
I will draw all unto me. That is by the God-given faith
in the new birth. So, for by grace are you saved
through faith, that not of yourself, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And then he says in verse 10,
for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Now that's important, not because
of good works, but unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. The good works of believers are
not good because they're perfect, because they're not. Sin is mixed
with everything we do. That's what Paul dealt with in
Romans chapter seven. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? but they're accepted
by God based upon the merits of the righteousness of Christ,
accepted in the beloved Ephesians, one tells us. And so those works
are not the cause or the ground of God's blessings or God's salvation,
they're the fruit. And so when we read about this,
we understand that we don't need to think naturally. We need to
think spiritually. And the way that we think spiritually
is to get into the Word of God and see what God says. Now, Paul,
being in this situation, look at verse six of 2 Timothy chapter
one. This is, as I said, God's purpose
and God's grace we're gonna talk about. He says, 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. Back then, before
the completed revelation had been brought together, and that
is what we call our Bible, the Bible which The Old Testament,
as you know, was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek
and Aramaic. Before that, this canon, as we
call it, this book, book of books, filled with many books, but all
having the same message, before it was brought together, there
were special gifts, sign gifts, that accompanied the preaching
of the word. And now we don't, you know, some
people say, well, they still exist today. Well, the thing
about it is, and I won't argue with people, I don't believe
they do, and the reason is is because our authority in preaching
today is the written word of God. I go to the scriptures to
prove that what I'm telling you is true. I don't have to speak
in another language, and incidentally, speaking in tongues is not gibberish.
It's not some kind of a heavenly language. It was the ability,
the Holy Spirit-wrought, God-given ability to preach the gospel
and the word of God in another language that you had not studied
or learned. It's what happened at Pentecost.
There were different nationalities there, and they all didn't speak
the same language, but when Peter stood up to preach, The Bible
says, and this is a miracle of God's grace, that every person
heard it in their own language, even though Peter was speaking
in his tongue, which would probably have been Aramaic. But the thing
about it is, we have the word of God now. And all I have to
do is tell you to go to the scriptures and prove what I say is true. And so, but Paul had the ability,
like all the apostles, to bestow the sign gifts upon others, other
preachers and evangelists, so that when they went out to preach
the gospel, they would be accompanied with certain gifts that would
support that this is the word of God. But let me tell you one
more thing about that before we move on. If somebody tells
you they have the gift of tongues or the gift of healing or anything
like that, the first thing you need to be concerned with about
that person, whether or not they're sin of God or they may be a deception
of Satan, is what gospel are they preaching? Because if they're
not preaching the true gospel, and Paul's gonna talk about that
over in verse eight here, he talks about the gospel according
to the power of God, which is in line with God's purpose and
grace. If they're not preaching the
true gospel, I don't care what they can do. If they could part
the Flint River, whatever, they're not of God. Because all the sign
gifts were given in the early days of the church to support
the authority of the true gospel. And that was it. And it went
no further. It wasn't to point to the power
of the man or even to the miracle. because it was to point to the
authority of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation,
to everyone that believeth, the Jew first, the Greek also, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed. From faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. So
Paul is saying here in verse six, this is 2 Timothy 1.6, I
put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God. That
gift that God had given Timothy through Paul, now God gives the
gifts, you understand that. Paul had the God-given ability
to lay hands on Timothy and give him these gifts, but it's God
who gives the gifts. It's God's the source of the
gifts. Paul was just the instrument. And so he's saying, Timothy,
I wanna stir you up, stir up that gift. Don't become complacent. Don't become lazy and don't fear
men. He said in verse seven, now look
at this, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of
power and of love and of a sound mind. This gospel of salvation
for sinners, my friend, it's nothing to be ashamed of at all. Now I know, And understand what
I mean when I say this. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 2, 14 tells us.
The natural man is an unregenerate person. That is, they're not
born again. They haven't been born again
by the Spirit. And the way you know that a person has been born
again by the Spirit is because they believe the gospel. they
receive it with joy, in power. And it changes their lives in
so many ways, not in so many ways that religious people think,
but it changes their whole thinking. It turns their world upside down,
you could say. What we used to think was good,
now we see as evil. Now I'm not talking about human
morality, but I am talking about human religion. Bible says that
which is highly, is it Luke 16, 15, I believe. That which is
highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. The apostle
Paul wrote in Philippians chapter three that that which he thought
was profitable as to a right relationship with God. When he
came face to face in the new birth with the gospel of Christ
by the power of the Spirit, he counted all that he thought recommended
him to God to be nothing but rubbish, even dung, he said. He said, and he came to the conclusion,
the only thing that establishes a right relationship between
me and God legally as far as attaining and maintaining salvation
is the righteousness of Christ, the blood of Christ. And that's
nothing to be ashamed of. That's your only hope. That's
my only hope. But it will not allow you or
me to bring in our works as far as attaining or maintaining salvation. Because you see, this is to the
glory of God and not to the glory of man. So Paul says, God's not
given us a spirit of fear. Now, we fear God. And what he's
talking about, God has not given us the spirit of fear of man.
Now we do fear God, but that's not a legal fear of punishment. It's a worshipful fear. It's the idea that God is so
great that He deserves to be worshiped. He's awesome. Our
God is an awesome God. It's a spirit of reverence and
worship. And that's the fear we have of
God. And of love, that's the love of God to His people and
their love to one another that brings them together in the truth. and then of a sound mind, a mind
now that knows the truth. A mind that makes proper judgments
concerning saved and lost because it is filled with the word of
God, God's way. And so he says in verse eight,
2 Timothy 1.8, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner. Now Paul was imprisoned by men,
but he calls himself a prisoner of God. I'm God's prisoner. God
put me here. That's what he's saying. And
in other verses in the epistles that Paul wrote, he talks about
how his chains, the fact that he was captured and in prison,
worked out to the furtherance of the gospel. because Paul's
imprisonment, for example, in Rome, he was in prison and he
was confined, but people could come and go and talk to him and
listen to him, and he preached the gospel to them. And he says,
even some in Caesar's household, Caesar's home workers and all
of that, even they heard the gospel and God saved them. So
he says, don't be 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." Now the afflictions
of the gospel, what is he talking about? He's talking about the
persecution that comes over the testimony of the gospel when
sinners who are unconverted, unregenerate, when we tell them
that their deeds that they're so proud of are evil. because they deny the glory of
God. They deny the power of Christ.
They deny the grace of God. You see, any sinner who's seeking
salvation based upon their works, those are evil deeds because
they deny the glory of God. They deny Christ. Christ came
into this world to establish the only righteousness, by which
God could save sinners like us. And anytime we think that what
we do contributes to that salvation, we're denying Christ. For example,
Paul said that about circumcision, Jewish circumcision, when many
of those Jews who claim to be Christian came into the Gentile
churches and said, now wait a minute, these guys must, I know they're
saved by grace, I know Christ is their Savior, but they've
got to be circumcised or else they're not really saved. And
Paul said, look, if that's what you think, Christ will profit
you nothing. Christ will have no rival as far as to the ground
of salvation. And so this is the power of God.
And look at verse nine. Now this is really precious.
Don't let this get by you. He says, who hath called us,
the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved us, salvations
of the Lord by his grace, not of man, conditioned on Christ,
and he has saved us and called us with an holy calling, a very
special calling, a powerful calling, the calling of God, by the, through
Christ and the power of the Spirit that is irresistible. I'm telling
you, if God ever calls you in this holy calling, you won't
turn it down. You won't resist it. It's an
invincible calling. Somebody asked me one time, they
said, well, are you saying that God brings us to Christ against
our will? Well, it's against our natural
will. But it's not against our will
in this sense, God makes us willing in the day of His power. You
see what I'm saying? Give you an illustration maybe
like this. If a doctor, let's say an oncologist,
a cancer doctor, came to you and said, I want you to come
to my office and I'm gonna give you radiation, just on the spur
of the moment, would you go? Would you be willing to go? No,
you wouldn't. But now if that same doctor looked
at you and said, there's something wrong, can I examine you? You
go get examined and you find out you've got cancer. Then your
will is changed. Then you want to have that radiation
or that chemotherapy because now you know what you didn't
know before. And that's the way God works
in this holy calling. He shows us what we don't know
by nature. He shows us who God is. in His
holiness, His justice, His purpose and His grace. He shows us who
we are in our sin and depravity, fallen in Adam, born spiritually
dead and totally depraved. No will, no desire to come to
Christ. And then He shows us who Christ
is and the salvation that He's provided. And He makes us willing
in the day of His power. And that calling Listen to this,
this is verse nine now. He saved us and called us with
an holy calling, not according to our works. It's not by our
works. But he says, according to his
own purpose and grace. Now, what does this grace entail?
Well, look at the next line. It's according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Think about that. There's God's
purpose and grace before this world was ever created. God chose
a people and gave them to Christ. according to His purpose, which
was to glorify Himself, and His grace, which is all conditioned
on Jesus Christ. This is the language of the everlasting
covenant of grace, wherein God chose a people, gave them to
Christ, and made Christ to be their surety. All that God would do according
to His purpose in salvation, even before the creation of the
world, even before the fall of man, even before the first sin
was committed by Adam or Eve, Adam and Eve. But God had purpose
according to His grace, not according to our works. You see, God didn't
look down through a telescope of time here and foresee who
would do right, who would believe or who would do a good work,
no. It was all according to His purpose and His grace in Christ
before the world began. And Christ willingly in that
covenant, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity,
Father, Son, and Spirit, the second person of the Trinity,
the Son of God, willingly became the surety of His people. This
us there, listen to this, he says, Read verse nine again. Who hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling. Now this sets forth and describes
who he's talking about here. Have you been called with this
holy calling? Now how do I know I've been called
with this holy calling? Because I believe the true gospel.
I believe the word of God, I look to Christ. But let's go on. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us,
now who's the us there? Those who have been called with
that holy calling. And that's God's elect. All throughout
time. Some of them haven't even been
born yet. But they will be, and they'll be brought to Christ
with that holy, invincible, powerful calling of the Holy Spirit, that
convincing of the Spirit, and they will all come to Christ
and be brought to faith in Him and repentance of dead works
before Christ comes again and this world is destroyed. Why? Because God's not willing that
any of them should perish, but they all should come to repentance.
And how do you come to repentance? With this holy calling. And that's
according to God's purpose and grace, which was given to those
who have this holy calling, us, believers, born again people,
in Christ Jesus before the world began. And here's another proof
of that. Look at verse 10. He says, but
is now made manifest, made known by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ. In other words, Christ coming
into the world in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. So this purpose and grace of
God, God's purpose in grace. Now remember what it is. God's
purpose is to glorify Himself in the salvation of His people
whom He chose before the foundation of the world, all conditioned
on the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of His person and the power
of His finished work. on the cross as our surety, our
substitute, our redeemer. And that's when it was made manifest
on earth by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He
says in verse 10, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. It is the preaching
of the gospel, the revelation of the gospel, the good news
of salvation conditioned on Christ that we see how death is conquered
and how life and immortality is brought to light, brought
out. How can I, a sinner who deserves
nothing but death and hell, how can I live forever in the fellowship of the Father, the
Son, and the Spirit? How is that possible? When it's
brought to light through the gospel, salvation conditioned
on Christ, who fulfilled all those conditions and ensured
the eternal salvation and final glory of every sinner whom God
gave him before the foundation of the world. That's precious. And Paul says, that's what I
preach in verse 11, where into I am appointed a preacher, an
apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. What a message that
is. God's purpose and grace in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's no other way of salvation.
No other way of life and immortality. That's how it's brought to light
through the preaching of the gospel. All of this, all of this
for God's glory. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. 31707, contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.