Let's open our Bibles together
to the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. I'm happy to report
to you who haven't heard before, our week of Bible school went
so well this week. I'm just very thankful for that
week. It really is just my favorite
week every year. I love that time to spend with
our children, teaching them. You'll note in the bulletin,
I hope, we're going to have a special meeting July 23rd through 25th.
Pastor Kevin Thacker and Chris Cunningham are going to be here
to preach to us. They'll preach each day. So I thought about, should we
have three speakers? What should I do? I just decided
on two. And I told Chris, I said, I'm sorry. I know that puts a
burden on you. You preach every single day.
He said, oh, that doesn't bother me. Just pray for me. So let's
hold him up to our Lord and pray that this be a special time together. Jonathan Tate is preaching in
Danville, Kentucky this morning. Ralph just told me that Charlotte's
got to have gallbladder surgery on Wednesday. My heart goes out
to you. Let's hold them up in prayer
as well. All right. Second Timothy, we'll begin our
reading in verse one. We'll read the first seven verses. 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 Christ Jesus our Lord.
I thank God, whom I serve for 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." Now, as we stand together,
Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. The title of
it is, He Maketh No Mistake. I believe that, don't you? He
makes no mistake. God help us to sing it like that's
what we believe. My father's way may twist and
turn, my heart may throb and ache, but in my soul I'm glad
I know he maketh no mistake. My cherished plan may go astray,
My hopes may fade away, But still I'll trust my Lord to lead, For
He doth know the way. Though night be dark and it may
seem that day will never break, I'll pin my faith, my all, in
Him. He maketh no mistake. There's so much now I cannot
see My eyesight far too dim But come what may I'll simply trust
And leave it all to Him For by and by the mist will lift, And
plain it all He'll make. Through all the way, though dark
to me, He made not one mistake. If you would please turn in your
hymnal to song number 359, My Faith Looks Up to Thee. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou
Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. Now hear me when I pray, Take
all my sin away, O let me from this day be wholly Thine. May Thy rich grace impart strength
to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire. As Thou hast died for
me, O may my love to Thee Pure, warm, and changeless be
a living fire. While life's dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread, Be Thou my guide. Bid darkness turn to day, Wipe
sorrow's tears away, Nor let me ever stray from Thee aside. When ends life's transcend dream,
When death's cold sullen stream Shall o'er me roll, Bless, Savior,
then in love fear and distrust remove, O bear me safe above
a ransomed soul. If you would please open your
Bibles to the book of 1 John. Begin reading in chapter 1, the
book of John. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him.
Without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of man. And the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was
a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a
witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him
might believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was
in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. John bare witness of Him and
cried, saying, This was He of whom I speak. He that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness have we all
received in grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God
at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. And this
is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites
from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed and
denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked
him, What then are thou, Elias? And he sayeth, I am not. Art
thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said
they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to
them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make
straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. We'll stop reading there. Our great God and Heavenly Father,
we thank you for bringing us to this place this morning. For
the lesson we've had this morning concerning faith, we ask that
you continue to increase our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
each day. Cause us to be anchored on him.
and grow deeper in faith and trust and love of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that as Frank comes to
open the word to us, that you teach us out of it. Teach us
from your written word, more of the living word, the word
incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask that you be with others
that stand and open your word this morning. Think of Jonathan
and Danville and others, Father, diligently preach your word,
those in Lexington and around this earth. Be with your servants
this morning, each week, and in the years to come, to continue
to preach your gospel. Continue to use the preaching
of your gospel to call out your sheep, to save them as you see
fit according to your word, your will. Father, we continue to
ask that you be with those that are continue to go through difficult
trials and troubles, surgeries and treatments and bodily ailments. Father, we know that these things
are sent for a reason and we ask that they be the treatments
and trials that you send and that surgeries are successful. We pray for the surgeon's hands
to heal the problem. Again, Father, we continue to
ask that you Guide us and direct us each day. We go out into the
world for this week to work and do our things. Would you be with
us and guide us and direct us? Cause us to behave and have good
attitudes and thankful hearts. Show on us that you've made a
difference. Nothing in us, Father, but you
working in us to do good. Pray for a true hour of worship
this morning. Let us truly worship and praise our Lord Jesus Christ.
Raise Him up. These things we ask and pray
in Christ's name. Amen. If you would, sing with me on
the chorus. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot,
Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul Though Satan should buffet, though trial should come Let
this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded my
helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well It is well with my
soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole. is nailed to the cross and i
bear it no more praise the lord praise the lord oh my soul it
is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my
soul. And Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be sighed. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. The Trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. First thing this morning, Brady,
practice two songs. I almost asked you to sing that
one. Nope. Stay out of it. Thank you. I'm glad you chose
that one. Hope your Bible's with me. Again,
if you would, to 2 Timothy chapter 1. I've entitled the message this
morning, Power, Love, and a Sound Mind. I think it's interesting
that in the providence of our Lord that our text this morning
includes this verse in the week immediately following our Bible
school. In verse 5, Paul says, when I call to remembrance the
unfamed faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. Many parents read that verse
and think about that verse often, don't we? Because what we pray
for our children is the same thing as what the Lord did for
Timothy. It's our prayer that the Lord
would save our children. And many of our children here
are very blessed in this regard. They have both parents and grandparents
who are believers, just like Timothy did. Now, how'd that
happen? That's our prayer for our family,
isn't it? Well, how'd that happen that
the Lord saved three generations out of one family? That's pretty
rare. How'd that happen? Well, I'll
tell you this. Without knowing them, I already
know that this is true. It wasn't because Lois and Eunice
were such great ladies that the Lord saved their son and their
grandson. Salvation is in the blood of Christ. It's not something
that's passed down by human blood. And the Lord didn't save young
Timothy because Lois and Eunice, he did something that's so wonderful
that the Lord said, well, I'm going to reward you by saving
your son, your grandson. That would have made salvation
a work, wouldn't it? By their good works. And salvation is
not by works. Salvation is by grace. The Lord saved three generations
out of this one family for this reason. It's because of God's
free, undeserved, unearned grace. That's why. The Lord saved three
generations of people out of that family simply because it
pleased the Lord to do it. Because he's rich in mercy. That's
why. And God saved all three of those
generations through the preaching of the word. The preaching of
the gospel. God applies His grace through
the preaching of His Word. Look over at page 2 Timothy 3,
verse 15. I know that's true, but Paul
tells us here in the Word. Chapter 3, verse 15. And that
from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. Timothy's mother and grandmother
bothered to teach him the Word. Faith comes from the Word, being
taught the Word. And you know, that's why we have
Bible classes for our children every week. That's why we have
vacation Bible school once a year for our children, so that they
would be taught the Holy Scriptures. Well, we can teach them the Scriptures
up here. Could be the Lord take that and make them wise unto
salvation. But you know what? We do that for the adults too,
don't we? That's what we do, the exact
same thing for the adults, teach the Scriptures. Teach the Word
that we might look to, believe on, rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because God is pleased to save
His people through what the world calls the foolishness of preaching. Preaching Christ. The preaching
of Christ, preaching of God's grace that the world cannot understand. How is it that salvation can't
come by works? The world doesn't understand
that. They call the preaching of Christ dependence on God's
grace alone. They call that foolishness. But
that's what God's Word teaches. And faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Somebody's got to preach the
Word. That's why we preach the Word like that, because if God's
going to save anybody, that's how He's going to do it. If God's
going to feed His people, teach His people, edify His people,
He's going to do it through the preaching of the Word. That's
why Paul tells Timothy, Timothy, the Lord saved you, and you see
you stir up that gift that God's put in you. Verse 6, 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." Now this word,
stir up, Paul uses, it has to do with stoking a fire, blowing
on the hot coals to keep them hot and make them flame up again.
Jan and I have a fire pit in our backyard. When it's cool
out, we have a fire in the evening. And if I didn't know better,
I think maybe she's a little bit of a pyromaniac. She loves
to just blow on those coals and see them flame up again. It just
thrills her every time. Well, that's what Paul's talking
about here. Blow on those hot coals and make
them flame up again. That's exactly what he's talking
about. Well, spiritually, how does a person do that? How do
you fan the flames? How do you blow on those coals
of faith that God's given you? The very same way God gave you
faith in the first place. is by hearing the preaching of
Christ. That stokes the, blows on those hot coals and causes
that faith to increase. It's by hearing more of Christ.
That's how you stir up those flames. Now Paul here talks about
the putting on of my hands. You know, Paul's the apostle. He had apostolic authority to
be able to lay his hands on Timothy. He didn't save him that way.
That's not how Timothy was saved. He gave him the gift of preaching.
by the laying on of hands. He gave him this power to work
miracles like some of the other apostles did. He gave him that
power by the laying on of his hands so that when people heard
Timothy preach, they would know that the Lord is with this man.
Now, nobody has that kind of power today and we don't need
it. Only the twelve apostles could give those kinds of things.
But you know, the Lord still gives power to his people. He
doesn't do the preaching of the word. He gives the power of faith
today simply by the preaching of the Word. See, we've got the
completed Word of God. Timothy didn't have that. So
we've got the completed Word of God. We don't need those miracles.
God gives this power to His people today through the preaching of
the Word. And this is what I want us to
look at this morning. What kind of preaching will save people
like that? Like God saved three generations
here. What kind of preaching will do that? What kind of preaching
will stir up, will blow on those hot coals of faith that God's
given His people and to keep it flaming up? What kind of preaching
will do that? Well, the answer is the preaching
of Christ. You already knew that, didn't
you? It's the preaching of Christ. And Paul gives us a little warning
here. Preaching the law will never accomplish that. You know,
if your goal as a preacher is to try to control people's actions
and get him to act like he wanted to act, you're going to have
to use the stick of the law to do it. You're going to have to.
And Paul tells us the preaching of the law will never accomplish
this kind of salvation. The preaching of the law will
never fan those flames or blow on those hot coals. It'll douse
them. It won't cause them to come up. And that's what he tells us in
verse seven. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Now that's all the law can do
is give us a spirit of fear. It's being a slavish fear. A fear of being punished because
we didn't do well enough. You know, the law says do and
live, but disobey once and die. I don't care if you haven't,
but just for the sake of argument, suppose you have kept the law
up to now. Disobey once, all the rest of it's no good. Disobey
one time and die. To be guilty, defend at one point,
is to break the whole law of God. In Bible school, in the
time I had with the children before they went back to their
classes, I showed them, tried to show them how the law is a
stick, the schoolmaster's stick. You know those old schoolmasters,
the rich man, the nobleman would hire a schoolmaster and come
to the house and he'd put his son, that son that's the heir
of everything, He put that son under that schoolmaster. He's
the heir of it all. One day, he's going to reign
in his father's place. But right now, he's under the rule of that
schoolmaster. And you know what that schoolmaster did when he's
teaching that boy? Every time that boy answered
a question wrong, he'd just smack him one. He'd just whack him
upside the head. Get his attention, wouldn't it?
But it didn't make him love that schoolmaster. They made him afraid
of that schoolmaster. He didn't want to do a good job
to please his schoolmaster. He just didn't want to get whacked
in the head again. That's the law. That's all the law can do
to you and me is whack us upside the head every time we break
the law. The law can tell us we've broken
the law. The law can tell us you've disobeyed God. But it
can't tell us how to obey. See that? And the word fear here,
sometimes there's a fear of the Lord that's good. It means a
reference This word fear means cowardice. It means fearfulness. The law can only produce a fear
of God. The law makes us afraid, afraid
of God's justice. It makes us afraid of God's holy
character. It makes us afraid of being in
the presence of God. And no matter how long we're
under it, the law can never produce obedience, no matter how much
it threatens us. Threats of hell and threats of
God's wrath can't produce faith in Christ. All it can produce
is fear. I was talking with Brother Todd
Nyberg the other day, talking about this text, and he said
something that's very interesting. He said the law can only produce
resentment. And he's right. The law doesn't produce love
for God. The law produces resentment toward God. The law makes me
resent God because he gave me a law I can't keep. The law makes
us resent God because He gave us a standard that we can't live
up to. It's impossible to keep the law. Well, if we're under
the law, we're going to resent God for putting us under it.
But the gospel, the gospel of Christ, that produces faith in
the hearts of God's people. The gospel of Christ, telling
who Christ is, what He did, why He did it, where He is now, you
know what that does? That produces a reverence of
the Lord. The gospel produces a reverence
of the Lord that causes the believer to love Him. To love Him who
first loved us and to cast our soul on Him. The gospel produces
a reverence in the heart of a believer that causes us to worship. Worship
humbly. Not because God's given us something. Not seeking reward. Just worship
Him for who He is. The gospel produces a reverence
of the Lord that causes the believer to be afraid. to be afraid to
be out of the Lord's presence, to be afraid to stand on my own. It makes us afraid to be outside
of Christ and a desire to be found in him. The gospel does
not produce a slavish fear at all. God's children have no fear
of being punished. Our sins have already been punished,
haven't they? So the gospel of God's grace, of salvation in
Christ, redemption in his blood, that produces a reference of
God. The believer can say with David, I'll fear no evil. I'll fear no evil because the
Lord saved me from evil. He saved me from my sin. The
believer doesn't have to live being afraid of condemnation. No. Christ already kept the law
for me and made me righteous. If I'm in Christ, God sees nothing
in me to condemn. Christ put it away. The believer
doesn't have to be afraid of God's wrath because Christ was
already punished for me. as a substitute for my sin. And
the believer doesn't have to live being afraid of death. No. To leave this life is to
depart and be with Christ, which is far better. To be absent from
the body is to be present with the Lord. The believer looks
forward to that. The process of death oftentimes
can be painful to the body. I don't really look forward to
that all that much. But to be absent from this body
and to be present with the Lord? No, I'm not afraid of that. No,
I look forward to that. That's a reverence and a confidence
that the gospel produces. It's not fear, being afraid,
like what the law produces. Let me give you what Paul gives
us here, three marks of the gospel that will produce this kind of
faith and reverence. Number one, the gospel. It gives
faith in Christ. It's the gospel of God's power.
Verse 7, Paul says, God's not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power. Now there's power that the Lord
gives His people. It's not the power to quit sinning. Don't think God's going to save
you. You're going to sin less than you used to. That's not going to happen.
It's not the power to... I hear people, these false preachers
saying, go out there and stand in Satan's face and tell him,
you know, get away. You're going to beat Satan up.
You're going to overcome Satan. That's not the power, Paul's talking
about. It's not the power to subdue the world around you,
get the world around you to be more holy and righteous and good.
The power that God gives in the gospel is a power greater than
all that. It's a power to believe Christ.
It's a power to believe. At one time, you who believe
know this. At one time, you could not believe Christ. You could
not do it. I can't tell you how many years
I spent trying to believe God. Couldn't do it. I believe the
gospel so. I believe that's true. I can
see where that's true and free will religion is wrong. I can
see that. But I could not make myself believe
Christ. You who believe know what I'm
talking about. And then one day, you believe. Now you believe. And one day you couldn't, now
you do. And you can't not believe, can you? Brother Fortner said
somebody asked him one time, do you ever not believe God?
He said, I try every day. And God won't let me. He won't
let me not believe Him. That's faith. That's the power.
How'd that happen? How'd you receive that kind of
faith? Through preaching. Somebody's got to tell you who
Christ is. If you hear who He is, you'll believe Him. Look
at Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. In verse 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek for therein,
and this gospel, the powerful gospel of God, therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it's
written, the just shall live by faith. The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to give his people faith. to believe
Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved It
is the power of God. The gospel reveals the power
of God to save sinners, to put away their sin, and to give them
life. The gospel declares this. Here's
how God gives his people life. Here's how God saves his people.
It's through the life, through the death, and through the resurrection
of one man, the God man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the flesh
thinks that's foolishness. But look at verse 24. But unto
them which are called, Both Jews and Greeks, people from every
nation, from every background. Christ, the power of God and
the wisdom of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
power of God. It's the power that He sent to
put away the sin of His people and to save them by His sacrifice. And the gospel that we preach,
by God's grace, this is the gospel we preach. It's the power of
God unto salvation because we preach Christ. We preach Him
who is the power of God. This gospel is not about our
power, which is a good thing because we don't have any. Wouldn't
it be bad news to keep hearing about all this power you got
to have and you don't have it? This gospel is not about our power.
It's about the power of God. It's about the power of God to
make dead sinners live, to make them live in Christ and live
by Christ. The gospel is the power of God
to make dead sinners believe on Christ. I didn't even tell
Wayne what my title or text was this morning, but he read it
to us there in John 1. It's the power of God to become
sons of God. It's His power to do that. He
gives them that power to become sons of God, to believe. So we
preach Christ. Just preaching steadfastly, unchanging. We don't change our methods and
message to try to get results. Just preach Christ. no matter how dire the situation
looks. Ezekiel, can those bones live? Lord, you know. Then Ezekiel
preached to them, and those dead bones lived. They rose up a mighty
army. You know how they lived? When
Ezekiel preached. That's the power of the Holy
Spirit to move and give life when Christ is preached. That
life-giving power is given through the preaching of Christ. The
gospel that we preach, the gospel that God's entrusted to us to
preach to our generation gives the power to see Christ. We tell the blind, look. And
they look. And then they see. It's the power
to, by faith, see Christ lifted up as a sacrifice for our sin
and be drawn to Him. And it's the gospel that also
stirs up the gift that's in you to continue in the faith, to
continue believing. How is it you continued believing
all the way to the end? These all died in faith. How'd
that happen? God kept them believing. They
kept hearing the gospel. The gospel stirs up the gift
that's in you. Every child of God here knows
exactly what you... Oh, you drag yourself in here
sometimes, don't you? Oh, you drag yourself in. Wednesday
night, you've been out there in the world, it's just beating
you up, hasn't it? I mean, it's beating you up. Your feet are
dusty. Oh, it's beating you up. And you come and you hear the
Gospel. You hear Christ as simply as
the man knows how to do it. And you leave with a bounce in
your step. What happened? That's the power of God to stir
up the gift that's in you. To stir up that soul that God
put in you. What a gift that God put in those
that believe. He put in you the spirit of Christ. And the preaching of Christ stirs
it up. When you're under the time of great trial, my counsel
to you is don't stay home. Don't think you're so crushed
and you can't face the public. Don't think that. When God puts
you under trial, and I know it hurts, I know it hurts. Oh, it
just, you just, you think you can't escape it. Come to service. Come worship God. David's child
died. What did David do? Got up, he
washed himself, he went to the house of the Lord to worship.
It'll help you because the gospel, the gospel of Christ, hearing
of him, that stirs up the gift that God put in you. enables
you to endure hard trials that won't run you off. Trials don't
run God's people off. They draw them closer to Him.
God will give you grace sufficient to bear up under it so you won't
quit. And He does it by reminding you
of Christ the Savior. That power that God used to cause
us to look to Christ the first time? How is it that you look
to Christ the very first time? It's when you heard Christ preach,
wasn't it? Well, God uses that very same gospel to give you
the power to keep looking to Him, to keep trusting Him, to
keep resting in Him. That is how God's grace was sufficient
for the Apostle Paul with his thorn in the flesh. And I can
tell you this, God hadn't changed from then till now. God hadn't
changed. His grace would be sufficient for our heartaches and our tears,
too. All right, number two, it's the gospel of power. Number two,
this gospel that God uses to save his people is the gospel. The gospel that gives faith is
the gospel of God's love. Verse seven, God has not given
us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, of love. Now, the message of the law gives
us resentment toward God. We can understand that. The message
of Christ and God's grace that's in Christ That gives us a love
for God. Look at 1 John chapter 4. The
gospel declares the most amazing thing, the most amazing truth,
I believe, that could be known to man. The gospel of Christ
declares how it is that the holy God can love sinners like you
and me. Now, no one is saved because we love Jesus. You know
why sinners are saved? Because God loves sinners. 1
John 4, verse 10. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Sinners are saved because God
loved them. He set His love on them from
all of eternity. Fully knowing what they'd be.
Fully knowing what they'd be falling in at them, God loved
His people. He set His love upon them. And
love always acts, always acts. God's love acted. He proved his
love when he sent his son to die for the sin of those people.
He sent his darling, holy, precious son to be made sin and to suffer
and die to save those people. That is how God showed his love
for his people. Now in response to that, let
me ask you, How can you not love Him who first loved you? How
can you not love Him who gave Himself, who gave Himself, sacrificed
Himself, sacrificed all that He is to wash you from your sin? How can you not love Him? If
He died for you, you love Him. You love Him. Well, what about
this thing about being afraid of the law and being afraid of
judgment? You know, I said believers don't
have to be afraid of the law, don't have to be afraid of judgment.
Well, that's not a once for all thing, is it? Do you often find
yourself being afraid of those things and thinking I better
act right, I better act better, things aren't going so well in
my life, I better act better, maybe God will bless me? That's being
afraid of the law. What about that? What combats
that? If you're still there in 1 John
4, and if you're not, turn back. I'll show you something here
that I believe will help you. 1 John 4, verse 17. Herein is
our love made perfect, that we may have boldness. Here is how
you can have boldness in the day of judgment, not be afraid
of it. Because as he is, so are we in this world. However Christ
is, that's how his people are right now in this world, as we're
going through this world. Verse 18, there's no fear in
love, but perfect love casteth out fear. Because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love Him because He first
loved us. It's God's perfect love for His
people that casts out fear. If Almighty God loves you, you've
got nothing to fear. He sent His Son to be the propitiation
for your sin. Then you've got nothing to fear.
His perfect love for His people casts out the fear of the law.
Cast out fear of wrath, fear of condemnation, fear of death,
and fear of hell. It's His perfect love. Now look
back at 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1. God shows
His love to His people. He showed His love for His people
when He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sin. God
tells His people about His love for them through the preaching
of Christ. 1 Timothy 1 verse 5. Now the end of the commandment,
of the gospel, The gospel is a commandment to believe Christ.
The end, the goal of this commandment is charity. It's love out of
a pure heart and of a good conscience and a faith unfeigned. The gospel
of Christ, telling God's people about Christ, that gives them
both faith in Christ and love for Him. Love for Him. It's because
of His perfect love for His people. And the gospel of Christ, The
gospel of God's grace. Tell you what else it does. It
gives us a love for God and it gives us a love for people. Why
do we keep preaching the gospel? Because we love people. Sometimes
they make it pretty tough to love them, but we love people.
We care about people and especially we have love for the brethren.
Every believer does. Our Lord says, by this shall
all men know that you're my disciples. If you have love one for another.
And Paul felt that love for people. He felt that love for the brethren,
especially in every epistle that he writes. He expresses it. His
love and care for those to whom he's writing. And he sure felt
that love for Timothy. He called him my dearly beloved
son. And look what he says in verse 5. He said, I'm greatly
desiring to see thee. Be mindful of thy tears, that
I may be filled with joy. Now the tears that Paul's talking
about here are the tears that Timothy shed the last time Paul
left him. You know where Paul left Timothy?
In Ephesus. You know that story there in
Acts where Paul left the Ephesian elders and they all wept and
fell on his neck and wept because Paul said, you'll see my face
no more? Timothy was in that group. And he saw Timothy weeping. He cried with all those other
men who were crying and it just broke Paul's heart. He loved
Timothy. And seeing Timothy broken hearted
broke Paul's heart. That's love. That's love. Now has the gospel, I ask myself
this question, has the gospel given me that kind of love? Has
it love for God? Love for his people? Has it?
Let me give you some marks of this love believers have for
one another. Love, as we saw just a second ago, makes us care
about the tears and the pain of our brothers and sisters.
We care. We're going to weep with each
other, aren't we? When it's time to laugh, we'll laugh with one
another. When it's time to weep, we'll weep with one another.
Because we care. Your heartaches affect me much,
much, much, much more than my own. I just can't stand to see
you all suffer. I'm so sorry, and I can't do
anything to take it away. I'll come cry with you all day
long. We care. We care about one another. Love
makes us greatly desire to see those whom we love. My darling
wife's been out of town for a few days. Lord willing, I'm going
to see her this afternoon. I'm looking forward to it. I'm
looking forward to it. I love her. When I've been away,
this summer I was away for three months. Oh, I longed to see your
face. I longed to see you. I was so
happy to see you. That's love. You're just happy
to see those that you love. will make us pray for our brethren.
Verse 3, Paul says, I thank God, whom I serve for my forefathers
with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of
thee in my prayers night and day. Now, you're only going to
pray for somebody night and day that you love. The only way they
can be on your heart that way is if you love them. And it just
makes us happy. You know what this love also
does? makes us happy to see God give them faith. To see God give
them faith in Christ. And to see it continue. It's
not just at a baptismal service and we all just go and hug that
one that confessed Christ and we're so happy. Aren't we happy?
Oh! But you know what makes me just as happy? Maybe happier? Actually happier. To see that
faith continue. To see you drawn. to hear of
Christ week after week after week, year after year after year. Now, that lets me know God's
done something for you. Happy, that's what Paul says
here in verse 5. He said, this makes me happy. I'm filled with joy when I call
to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee. This is the
real McCoy. It's stood some test of time
now, and Paul says, that fills me with joy to see unfamed faith
in you, that God has blessed you with that. And that kind
of love can only be given by the power of God through preaching
Christ. Nothing else will do it. The
law cannot threaten you into loving somebody. This flesh just
can't do it. The one and only way I can care
about you as much as I care about me is love's got to be given
from above. It's a miracle. That's the gospel
that we preach. And thirdly, the gospel. that gives this kind of faith,
saves God's people, is the gospel that gives a sound mind. Verse
7, Paul says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but
of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now, salvation is a heart
work. Salvation is a whole lot more
than a head knowledge about some facts. It's a heart work. It's a giving of a new heart.
But this is also true when God saves His people, He gives them
a sound mind, a new mind. And that mind knows what the
heart believes. Now, I can't say I understand
it. I can't say I understand everything
that I believe, but I know it. I know that it's so. I believe
it in the heart and a sound mind knows that it's so. You know,
we just can't say we understand everything about what God's doing.
If somebody says that, I'd question them. But this is what a believer
knows. I know, I know that what the
heart believes about Christ is true. I don't understand what
the Lord's doing, but I know that it's best. I know it is.
I know He's bringing good out of it. I know it. I don't understand
it, but I know it. That's what a sound mind knows.
And be careful not to use the excuse, well, we don't understand
everything there is to know about God. So we put a question mark
on things that are plainly revealed in God's word. We don't know
everything there is to know about God. We don't know everything
there is to know about the scriptures. Wednesday night, Brother Mike
brought out things. I've never seen that before.
You just can't learn everything there is to know about the scriptures.
But that does not mean that we don't know how God saves his
elect. The fact that I don't know everything
there is to know about Scripture does not mean I don't know how
God makes sinners righteous. No, I know that. That's plainly
revealed in Scripture. We don't know everything there
is to know about God. And even throughout all of eternity, whatever
that's like, whatever knowledge of God we have then that we do
not have now, that we've seen Christ face to face, it's going
to be much greater than it is now. We're not going to be looking
through a glass dimly, are we? But whatever it is we know in
eternity that we don't know now, I promise you this, you'll never
learn anything that's contrary to God's sovereign grace. Never.
We'll never learn anything different that contradicts the truth God
elected the people unto salvation. Christ came and died for those
people. He put their sin away, made them righteous so the Father
will accept them. And those people are made perfectly
righteous in Christ. in Christ. Not anything they
did or they didn't do. And those people were kept and
preserved by the power of God's grace. It wasn't their morality.
It wasn't their merit. It was God's grace. Now I just
promise you this. You'll never learn anything that
contradicts that. You'll never learn anything that's
true that contradicts that. And the believer sound mind knows
it. Knows it. We don't know everything there
is to know about God. But there are some things that
God's people know. The apostle John in, I think
it's his epistle in first John often talks about, and we know,
and we know, and we know there's some things that we know beyond
a shadow of a doubt, because those things are clearly revealed
in scripture. Now we know those things. God
help us to never be moved away from them. And we won't, if God's
given us a sound mind. I looked up this word, sound
mind. It's a phrase in our language,
sound mind. But I believe, if I understand
it right, it's one word in the Greek. And I thought, what does
this mean, a sound mind? This phrase, a sound mind, the
word translated sound mind, this is the only time it's ever used
in scripture. Paul uses it right here. And
you know what it means? It's fascinated me. It means
not depending on self. That's what it means, not depending
on self. If you have a sound mind, you don't depend on yourself.
You depend on God. If you have a sound mind, you
don't depend on yourself. You rely on, you depend on, you
rest in Christ and Christ alone. And you're not going to trust
any of your works and think God's going to be happy with you. Use
them to try to commend you to God. The only way you want God
to see you is in Christ, relying on Him. That's a sound mind. And an unsound mind is one that
thinks your works can add something to Christ. That's an unsound
mind. And I don't want to be offensive,
but you know why that is? You know why somebody thinks,
well, I can trust my own, what I'm doing to add to Christ. It's
a dead mind. The mind's just dead. It can't
think right. I use this illustration with the children in Bible school,
too. I had a mirror. I held that mirror
up. I looked at myself in that mirror.
And I set that mirror down and said, this is what I look like.
I'm about 6'6". I've got dark hair and I've got
big broad shoulders. Daisy's sitting in the front
row. And the longer I talked, she went, her eyes got real big,
you know. I said, Daisy, if I said that,
would you think my mind's not working right? That's an unsound mind. That's
an unsound mind to look into the Word of God and think, I
can add something to Christ. That's an unsound mind. God gives
his people a sound mind that does not depend on self, but
depends on Christ. And that sound mind can learn. It learns. It learns about Christ. When God the Holy Spirit uses
the gospel to teach his people, to teach that sound mind so that
we gain wisdom, Look at John chapter 6. You might be wondering,
well, has God given me this sound mind? How will I know for sure
if God's given me a sound mind? Well, the evidence that God's
given us a sound mind, that He's taught us, if God's taught us,
we come to Christ. John chapter 6, verse 43. Jesus therefore answered and
said unto him, unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man
can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him, and
I'll raise him up at the last day. It's written in the prophets,
and they, all of God's elect, all of his people, shall be all
taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard, hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. The evidence
that God's given us a sound mind, and that God's the one that's
taught us, not the preacher, is this, we come to Christ. And
we depend on him. One last scriptures. First Corinthians
chapter two. Verse nine. But as it is written. I hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by a spirit. For the spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For a man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which
is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the
spirit of God. Now we've received, not the spirit
of the world, but we've received the spirit which is of God. that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, we preach these things, not in the
words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now, the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. He can't receive
them. He doesn't have anything to put them in, for they're foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they're spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth,
discerneth all things. Yet he himself is judged, is
discerned of no man. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of
Christ. And how do you know you've got
this mind that knows these things, that discerns these things, knows
spiritual things with spiritual? How can we know? The apostle says here, we can
have the mind of Christ. I want to have that, don't you?
How do we know that we have the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ
that a believer has hears the gospel and agrees with it. Just agrees with it that everything
that God says about salvation in Christ is true. That's the
mind of Christ. The mind of Christ hears those
things of Christ, who he is, how he accomplished salvation
for his people and rejoices in it. Not only do I know it's true,
I rejoice in it. There's some things I know that
I don't rejoice that are true. Oh, when I hear Christ, that
sound mind says, that's true. My spirit beareth witness with
your spirit. Amen. And we rejoice. That's the mind of Christ. May
God be pleased to give it to us. If He's going to do it, He's
going to do it through the preaching of His Word. This is my constant
prayer to you. May God make us faithful to preach
it to our generation. our generation. All right, let's
bow together. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you for your mercy and your grace. How we thank you for this gospel,
the gospel of God's power and love for his people that gives
us sound mind as people that we might know thee. Father, how
we thank you. Father, I pray that you'd bless
the word as it's been preached, that you would, by your power,
override our stumblings and bumblings, that by your power, you apply
to the hearts of your people, that we might see and believe
and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. First, in his blessed name, we
pray. Give thanks. Amen. All right. Sean, come lead
us in a closing hymn, if you would. If you would please turn to song
number 126 and stand as we sing Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These four sins could not atone,
Thou must save and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne, Rock of Ages, left for me, Let
me hide myself in Thee.