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 today's message. I'm glad you could join us. And
if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles with the message
today, I'll be preaching from the book of 2 Timothy chapter
2. The main text will be verse 19,
which states this. Listen to this. It says, Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord
knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. Now the title of this message
is The Foundation of God. The Foundation of God. And what
we're talking about here is the foundation that God has laid.
But let's go back and let me give you some of the context
here. You know Timothy was a very special brother and friend and
a fellow laborer of the apostle Paul. He was a man whom Paul
took under his wing to teach him the ins and outs of the true
gospel ministry, preaching, dealing with churches and church members. And Paul was the old apostle
who had been through the ropes, who had had a lot of experience,
and he was coming to the end of his ministry. In fact, over
in 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul wrote this, he says in verse
6, this is 2 Timothy 4, For I am now ready to be offered, and
the time of my departure is at hand. He said, I've fought the
good fight. I've finished my course. I've
kept the faith. And so Paul realizes that he's
at the close of his ministry. Well, Timothy was a young man
that Paul was teaching. And one of the places that Timothy
ministered was at Ephesus. I think he ministered at other
places that Paul left him. But here in this portion of scripture,
Paul was instructing Timothy on how to deal with false teachers
and false doctrine that comes into the church, creeps in, and
diverts people from the gospel, and even exposes the faith of
some to be false. And he mentions it here. He says
in verse 15, and here's the main tool for shielding ourselves
against false teachers and false doctrines. And he says, study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. In other words,
study the word of God, not the words of men. The foundation
of true faith is the word of God. In fact, I've often told
people, if you consider what is the most foundational truth
of true Christianity. And you'll get all kinds of answers
and people will talk about, well, the truth of God's grace and
the truth of the person and work of Christ, and all those are
foundational. But I would tell you this, the most foundational
truth of true Christianity is this, the Bible is the inerrant,
inspired, authoritative word of God. Now why would I say that? It is because everything that
we believe in true Christianity is based upon what God says in
His Word. I believe that Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is the one and only way of salvation. Now why
do I believe that? It's not because I feel it. It's
not because there's a majority who claim it. It's because the
Word of God says it. Christ said, for example, in
John 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. Now that's what the Word
of God says. So then when preachers say, well,
now there's other ways to God. Here's, let me tell you, and
there are preachers in this town and all over this world who say
that and call themselves Christian. There's those who claim that
there's what they call progressive Christianity. And that's one
who claims to be a Christian and follow Christ, but who also
says there are other ways to God. Well, here's what I'm telling
you. Study to show yourself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly divining
the word of truth. The word of God will not support
them. And if you're listening to them
or you're following them, you're following a lie and a liar. Now, that may sound harsh to
you. That may sound exclusive. It
is, listen. The true gospel is an exclusive
gospel. There's one way to God. There's
one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. No other way. All other ways
are false. It's the straight gate, the narrow way. Few be
there that find it, as opposed to the broad way that leads to
destruction. And so Paul's telling Timothy,
now our foundation of truth and our defense and our authority
is the word of God, and that's what we need to be getting into.
Well, look at verse 16, he says, but shun profane and vain babblings,
for they will increase unto more ungodliness. These are the opinions
of men. What do you think? Well, what
does it matter what I think? What matters is what God thinks.
Another way I know what God thinks is to read his word. And then
he says, and their word, verse 17, and their word will eat as
doth a canker. The words of these false teachers
who go against the word of God will eat as a canker, like a
cancer or a gangrene. Starts out small, but then it
spreads. And he mentions two men here
in the church, in this local assembly, of whom is Hymenaeus
and Thylidas." Now, that's not so politically correct for people
to mention names. We're not supposed to do that
now, aren't we? But the Word of God does. They
expose these men as the false teachers. What were they teaching?
Verse 18, listen. It says, who concerning the truth
have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow
the faith of some. Now, I don't know exactly what
all they were saying and how they were saying it and their
theological position or their doctrinal position, but they
were saying that the resurrection, and what he's talking about here
is not the resurrection of Christ and his death, burial and resurrection,
but the resurrection of the dead at the end when Christ comes
again. And they were saying that's already happened. Now, I don't
know how they were trying to prove that, but that's what they
were saying. There are people who believe
that today, that the resurrection has already happened. Paul dealt
with it in 1 Corinthians 15, when there were preachers come
along and said, there's not gonna be any resurrection of the dead.
And Paul went to the word of God and he said, I preach the
gospel to you, how that Christ died according to the scriptures,
how he was buried and arose again the third day, according to the
scriptures. Now this is what God says. And
he says, he goes on to prove that if Christ arose from the
dead, his people who have died will rise from the dead. And
he said, if there be no resurrection, we of all people are most miserable
because we're living a life that goes against the grain of this
world and are outcast because of it. And so, since Christ arose,
there will be another resurrection, all his people will arrive. He's
the first fruit, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15. Well, these
two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus, they were preaching that the
resurrection had already come. But here's what Paul says, as
he writes to Timothy by inspiration of the Spirit, verse 19, nevertheless,
the found, now, oh, let me say this, I'm sorry, I got ahead
of myself. He says they came in preaching this false doctrine
and they overthrew the faith of some. In other words, they
led some away from the true faith, the true faith of the gospel,
the true faith of God's elect, the true faith that lies in Christ. Now let me tell you something
about overthrowing the faith of some. If your faith or my
faith or anybody's faith can be overthrown, the literal language
there is made shipwreck of their faith. And if that can happen,
what does that tell us? It tells us that we never truly
believed to begin with. We were never born again by the
Spirit. And I'll prove that to you. I
could go to a lot of verses there. But look over in the book of
1 John 2. And verse 18. Now listen, this was
a problem through, See, the church in the New Testament days, which
are the days from the death of Christ and His resurrection up
to His second coming, is going to be attacked from without and
from within. And we have to be on guard with
the Word of God. We have to stand fast. We're gonna talk about that in
just a minute. But these two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus,
they had come in, they had brought in this false doctrine, denying
the gospel, and they drew some away from the true faith with
them. They overthrew the faith of some.
It was false faith. How do you know? Look at 1 John
2, 18. John writes, little children, it is the last time. And as you
have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many
Antichrist, whereby we know that it is the last time. Now, this
false doctrine in people who claim to be Christian but deny
the doctrine of Christ is the spirit of antichrist. And it's
already here, John says. And those who did this, verse
19 of 1 John 2, he says, they went out from us, but they were
not of us. He said, for if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went
out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not
all of us. You see, they're going out, just
manifested a reality that they had never been born again by
the Spirit, they had never been brought to true faith in Christ. In verse 20 of 1 John 2, he says,
but you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all
things. An unction from the Holy One
is the power of the Holy Spirit that comes from Christ, imparting
the resurrection life of Christ within His people in the new
birth. It's called regeneration. Bringing them to conversion,
which cannot be overthrown. Now let me prove that. Go back
to our text now, 2 Timothy chapter 2. First of all, he says, here's
the foundation, verse 19. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, or steady, immovable. Having this seal,
now here's the seal of it. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. Now you'd think he'd be saying
something like having this seal, you're gonna keep on keeping
on, or you're sincere, or you're determined. No, the seal of it,
the foundation of it, is God's intimate, gracious, saving knowledge
of his people, which goes all the way back to eternity past,
before the foundation of the world. Now this knowing, God
knoweth, the Lord knoweth them that are His, this knowing here
is more than God's omniscience. Now you know when we talk about
God knows everything? That's His omniscience. The words
omni, which means all, science, which means knowledge, although
there are a lot of scientists who don't have much knowledge.
But that's what it is, omniscience. God is all-knowing, God knows
everything. God knows the heathen. He knew what was in the hearts
of men. He knew Judas, for example. He knew Judas was going to betray.
And it's not like some people think. Some people think, well,
God knows everything because he's looked down through some
kind of a telescope of time and he foresaw what was going to
happen. Well, no, my friend, that is not Christianity. That's
not biblical. That's a crystal ball religion. God knows it because he determined
it, the scripture says, and I know that's mind boggling and it turns
people off. But I'm gonna tell you something,
if you study the word of God and you know yourself, you'll
find that that's a comforting scripture. God is working all
things after the counsel of his own will. So this knowledge here,
the Lord knoweth them that are his, he knows his children. Now,
think about it this way. If you have a family, you mothers
and you fathers, and you go to a place, a social gathering,
you know a lot of people there. You know some children there.
But your own children, you know in a different way, don't you,
than others' children. Our children are special to us.
We have a special love for those children. And that's what I'm
talking about. This is what Paul's telling Timothy
here. God's true children. He knows
them. He loves them. He chose them
before the foundation of the world. He wrote their names in
the Lamb's Book of Life before the world began. He gave them
to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and conditioned all of their
salvation upon His Son. He put all their eternal well-being
in the hands of Christ. Christ was made their surety.
He determined to and declared that their sins, which He knew
they would commit, that their sin be charged to the account
of Christ. Made Him their surety. He sent
His Son to die specifically for those people. Christ calls them,
John chapter 10, His sheep. He knows His sheep and they know
Him. He died for His sheep. He didn't die for everybody without
exception. He didn't die for those who lived their lives in
unbelief and die and go into and perish in eternity. No, He
knows who they are. He knows their names. He knows
what they do. He knows their hearts, but He
doesn't know them graciously, mercifully, lovingly. You remember over in Matthew
chapter 7 and verse 21 through 23 when He spoke to those false
preachers and He said, He said, Depart from Me ye that work iniquity,
I never knew you. This is an intimate love relationship
that God has for His people in Christ. And He knows who they
are. And He saves them by His grace
based upon the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ imputed
to them, And He keeps them. He will not let them go. Christ
said that in John 10. He said, they shall never perish. Nobody can pluck them out of
my Father's hand, He said. I and my Father are one. In John
chapter 6 and verse 37, He said, all that the Father giveth me.
That's the ones whom the Lord knows here. all whom the Father
has given me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out." Anyone who comes to Christ comes because
they've been given to Him and Christ died for them. They're
justified in God's sight, forgiven of all their sins, counted righteous
in God's sight, and He sends the Spirit to bring them to Himself. And He'll receive them. And He
said in John 6, This is the will of Him that sent me, that of
all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. That's who He's talking about.
That's the foundation. upon which we stand, from which
we cannot be overthrown." We cannot be dragged away if it's
God-given faith. Now, what's the evidence that
God knows me in this way, in this loving way, in this saving
way, this adopting way? He adopted His family, see? In
this redemptive way. justified me and given me faith.
Well, he says it in verse 19 of 2 Timothy 2, and let everyone
that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Now, every
true believer is to fight sin in every way, all sin. The Bible speaks of it as a battle,
a warfare between the flesh and the spirit. But here Paul was
talking about something specific. He's talking about the iniquity
of false doctrine that would pull you away from looking to
Christ alone for our salvation, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Anything that would divert a
true believer's heart from a single minded look, faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, His glorious person and His finished work, we're
to depart from. We're not to listen to false
doctrine. We're not to be drawn away by preachers who come along
preaching what they claim is truth, but it's a lie. Think
about the book of Galatians. where the Judaizers were coming
in preaching the law to Christians, saying you must be circumcised,
you must keep certain days, you've gotta do this, you've gotta do
that. And Paul said that's another gospel, a different kind, no
gospel at all. Let them be anathema. Stand fast
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free and don't be
entangled again with the yoke of bondage, Galatians 5.1. And
that's what he's talking about. Let everyone that nameth the
name of Christ, who claims to be a Christian, a true Christian,
depart from iniquity. Don't follow Hymenaeus and Philetus. Don't follow this preacher over
there who says you've got to be baptized to be saved. That's
a lie. Salvation is not by my baptism. It's by Christ, God's grace in
Christ. And when I was baptized, that's
what I confessed. But now look at verse 20 of 2
Timothy 2. He says, but in a great house,
there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also
of wood and of earth, some to honor, some to dishonor. Now,
what he's talking about there is the church here on earth.
Now, first of all, let me put it to you this way. There is, in the concepts of
the scripture, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ as a whole. And that church, that true church,
which he said he redeemed with his own blood, are the called
out ones. They're called out of the world
into the family of God. That's what the word church means.
Called out. Separated from the world. And that true church is made
up of God's elect, justified in Christ, and they are known
and redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ and they are known when
they are called out by the gospel there are no false Christians
or false believers in that true church but there are also churches
plural which means different local bodies of believers around
the earth And I don't want to complicate
this, but you need to understand it. There are groups of people
who call themselves churches and call themselves Christian,
who are Christian in name only. And they do not preach the true
gospel. And though they may call themselves
a church and call themselves Christian, they are false. They
are Satan's tares. You remember the parable of the
wheat and the tares? That's Satan's tares that he
sows. And you know them because when you go in and you hear the
preacher preach, he does not preach the true gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in and by the glorious person and finished
work of Christ as the one way of salvation, the one way of
forgiveness, the one way of righteousness before God. He preaches other
things. Salvation condition on man, salvation
condition on this, that, and the other. And there are false
churches. But then there are true churches,
local bodies, where the gospel is preached. But even in those
churches while here on earth, there'll be believers there and
there'll be unbelievers. There'll be true professors of
the grace of God and false professors. And that's what Paul's talking
about. Timothy, you're here and you're with this church, this
group of people. In a great house, there's not
only vessels of gold and of silver, that's sinners saved by the grace
of God. They are saved by God's grace,
that's the deity, that's gold. And silver, that's the redemption
price of the blood of Christ. but also their vessels of wood
and of earth. These are those who just make
a claim, but they're not really saved, some to honor, some to
dishonor. Now verse 21. If a man therefore
purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified, set apart, and meet for the master's use, and prepared
unto every good work. When these false teachers come
along, and they begin to spread their poison, their cancer-causing
agents, if you stay away from them, don't follow them, expose
them for what they are, purge yourself from them, you're a
vessel of honor, sanctified, set apart, and qualified for
the master's use, prepared under every good work. Now, the if
there, now let's go back to this, verse 21. He says, if a man do
that, And a lot of preachers will come along and they'll say,
well, see there, that means that's conditioned on you. It's not
a conditional if, it's an evidential if. If a person does this, if
a man or woman who claims to believe the gospel purges him
or herself from these, they give evidence that they are a vessel
under honor, sanctified. meet or qualified for the master,
qualified how? Not because, qualified by the
grace and power of God, and for the master's use and prepared
unto every good work. Those who just claim to believe
the true gospel, but who follow these false preachers, my friend,
they do not believe the gospel. They're not qualified for the
master's use. because the master qualifies
his people through the truth and they're not prepared unto
every good work. So he says in verse 22, flee
also youthful lust, that's all kinds of unlawful desire, but
follow righteousness. Now to follow righteousness,
somebody said, well, let's try to be the best you can be. Well,
we are to try to be the best we can be. But to follow righteousness
is to follow Christ. Aim for the highest. We won't
make it in this life. I'm to aim for perfect righteousness.
But I realize that as I aim for it and try for it, that I can
only find perfect righteousness in the person and work of Christ.
I'll never reach that goal here on earth. Now I will be perfectly
righteous in all areas when I go to be with the Lord. Then I'll
be free from the flesh, free from its contamination. And so
he says, follow faith, charity, love, peace with them that call
on the Lord out of a pure heart. Now, what is the pure heart?
The pure heart is the heart, the mind, the affections and
the will purified by the Holy Spirit's application and the
knowledge of the blood of Christ. That's what purifies the heart.
That's what purifies the conscience. Look unto Christ. Nowhere else. 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
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today and may the Lord be with you.