Second Timothy chapter one, we're
going to look primarily at verse 13 this morning. Let's read verses
13 and 14. Old 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 by the
Holy Ghost, or that good thing which was committed unto thee
or committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth
in us. You know, my constant prayer
is that the Lord would enable me to preach the truth to you. I pray every day that God would
give me the message for the hour and he would enable me to preach
it in the power of his spirit and not in the weakness of my
flesh. I pray that God would enable me to preach the truth
in love and compassion. At the same time, I pray for
you. I pray that the Lord would enable you who hear to hear with
the heart of faith. And we would have to say that
the Lord has granted us that prayer over many years, over
the course of our time together. But you know, I also pray that
the Lord will keep us faithful to continue preaching, to continue
believing, to continue meeting together with the desire to worship
the Lord. Look over Colossians chapter
one. You know, continuing in the faith is very important because
continuing in the faith is the evidence that God has given us
genuine faith. Colossians 1 verse 21. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death. to present you holy and
unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. If you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which you've heard and which was preached
to every creature, which is under heaven, where have I Paul and
made a minister. Look over Hebrews chapter three.
Writer here says the same thing in Hebrews three verse six. But Christ has a son over his
own house. Whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end? So it's very important that we
continue in the faith. And that is largely what the
apostle writes the second epistle to Timothy to talk to him about. Now, a lot of people think this
is the very last epistle that the apostle Paul wrote. I don't
know if it was or not. But certainly it was written
in the very last days of Paul's life. Paul was in prison at Rome
and he knew certainly soon he would be executed for preaching
the gospel. So he writes the second letter
to young Timothy to encourage him to continue to preach the
gospel no matter what happens. It almost seems like Paul is
now passing the torch to the next generation. Now it's your
turn, Timothy. I'm going to be gone. Now you
continue to preach this gospel no matter what, because you're
going to meet with lots of opposition. You're going to meet with lots
of discouragement. You keep preaching this word no matter what. And
Paul's words of encouragement to Timothy are also words to
us today, in our generation, to be faithful, to continue preaching
the gospel in our day. Paul tells us to hold fast the
form of sound words that you've heard. He says the same thing
in chapter 3 of 2 Timothy, verse 14. But continue thou in the
things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing
of whom you've learned them. Now I ask Eric Floyd if he'd
bring his class out here this morning, and he was going to
be gone, Dan was going to substitute, and I asked Dan He could bring
them out. Because I want you all to hear
this. We're going to talk about holding fast to these sound words
that you've heard. I want you to remember this.
Right now while you're young, I want you to remember this always.
Holding fast to these words doesn't only mean coming here on Sundays
and Wednesdays and sitting here like a bumping log and going
home. There is a large part of this. There will come a time
when you get older, there's a time to put your back to this. There's
a time to come in and support this ministry, to be faithful
to it. Everybody's not going to be a preacher, but now everybody's
got a role to fulfill here. Now you just remember this. You
hold fast to these sound words. You be, that's all. And this
is to all of us. Let's, let's be faithful to serve
the Lord in our day with whatever ability that God's given us. I spent some time this week thinking,
and I'll talk more about this in the message, but coming back
from the meeting up in Princeton, I spent a lot of time thinking
about this this week. When I was a boy, Henry Mahan
was our pastor. And you know one thing I never,
ever, it never even entered my mind. It never entered my mind
about, wonder if the gospel's gonna be preached Sunday or not.
What if the gospel's gonna be preached Wednesday? I never wondered
that. Because Brother Mahan was so
faithful to preach the gospel. Preach Christ. He was just determined
to do that. Well, now he's retired, isn't
he? And that responsibility is falling to somebody else. Someday, the same thing is going
to happen to you. Now, my ministry is going to
end. Are you going to hold fast to
sound words or not? I pray God will raise up another man to
preach the gospel here. When I was a boy, men like Jeff
Thornberry, Charlie Payne, Cecil Rhodes, these men were giants
in the faith. And they did everything they
could to help Brother Henry, to support the gospel, to do
whatever was necessary for the preaching of the gospel. Well,
now the Lord's called all those men home. And these men and women
have taken their place. They've taken their place to
do whatever is necessary. You all put your backs to this
thing now because it's important to you that the gospel be preached
to you. Now, you young people, someday
these are going to be gone, these men and women. And you're going
to have to take up the slack. It's going to be your turn to
shoulder that burden, to take up their mantle, to do what's
necessary for the preaching of the gospel in your town. Now,
Timothy, Paul writes to Timothy, he says, hold fast, Timothy,
to these sound words. Don't let them go. Well, I have
two questions. What are sound words and how
do I hold them fast? Let me give you four or five
things. Number one, sound words are the whole word of God. Sound
words must be the word of God. They must be words that come
from the word of God. They must be words that agree
with the word of God. All of the Bible, every word
of it is sound words because it's the very word of God himself.
It's God breathed. And I tell you how we hold those
words fast, by believing them and continue to believe them.
I'll give you a couple of examples. Sound words are words of the
Trinity. God's one God. Yeah, he's three
persons, revealed in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Now, who can understand that? I tell you, I don't. But I tell
you how I hold those words fast is I believe it. Even though
I don't understand it, I believe it. And I believe that the work
of all three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is vitally necessary
for salvation. That's how we hold fast to those
sound words. Another example, creation. God
created the heavens and the earth in six 24 hour days. That's what the Bible says. And
I believe it. God created the whole world just
by speaking. And on the seventh day, he rested.
He didn't rest because he's tired. He rested because the work was
finished. It was good. Now we hold those words fast
by believing them. I don't care what different things
scientists come out with, I wouldn't give you two cents for evolution. It's stupid. We hold fast to
these sound words by believing God. And I'll tell you how else
we hold fast to that. I believe the same God that created
heaven and earth just by speaking, uses the same power to create
life in the hearts of His people, just by speaking. You're the
only place we can ever know the character of God is in the Bible.
The only place you're ever going to find out God's holy is in
his word. That's sound words. God's holy. God's sovereign. He rules over
everything. The only place you'll ever learn
that's in the word of God. And the only place you'll ever
hear God's merciful and God's gracious to sinners. That's his
character. It's in the word of God. Sound
words are words that God is the righteous judge who must punish
sin. Yet he's the savior of sinners.
Only God has the wisdom to save sinners and still be God. Now
we hold fast those sound words, not just by believing that they're
so, but by loving that they're so, being thankful that they're
so. Whatever this book says is true. whether I understand it
or not. I don't have to understand it
to believe it. I don't have to understand it to be so. Whatever
it says is so. And whatever this book says is
true, whether it's my personal experience or not, it's true
because God said it. That's sound words. Second, sound
words are words that glorify God and put man in the dust. Now, sound words have to be words
that are true, don't they? Well, then sound words must be
words that give God all the glory and put you and me in the dust.
Those are sound words. Sound words are God's sovereign.
God always does according to the pleasure of his will. And
man is powerless. Man can't do one thing to help
himself. Those are sound words, and I
tell you how I hold them fast. By relying on God to do for me
what I can't do for myself. by relying on the Lord Jesus
Christ to do for me everything that God requires. That's how
I hold fast to those sound words. Sound words are God's holy. God cannot even look on sin. And sound words about man is
man's depraved. We're filthy. We're vile in sin. And I tell you how I hold those
sound words fast. By believing. There's nothing
I can do to make myself holy. The only way a sinner like me
is going to be made holy is if God gives me a new nature and
a new birth. That's how I hold fast to those
things. Sound words are God is life. God doesn't just give life. God is life. And man is dead
and trespasses in sin. Now those are sound words. They're
true words. And I hold those words fast by
believing. If I'm going to have life, God's
got to give it to me. That's how we hold them fast.
Sound words are God is everything and I'm nothing. Those are sound
words. And I tell you how I hold them
fast. By always hearing the gospel as a poor needy sinner. I hold
those words fast by never growing beyond where I started. In Christ,
looking to Christ, needing Christ to be my everything. I hold those
words fast by always seeing Christ as all my salvation, by needing
him or I'll be lost. Those are sound words. Third,
sound words are words that give God all the glory and salvation. Sound words are these. Salvation
began with God's electing grace. God elected a people to say,
You know why we have the story of Jacob and Esau in the scripture?
It's not so we see how these two twin boys, you know, confess
and fight. We have the story of Jacob and
Esau in the scripture to teach us the truth that salvation is
by the will of God, not by the will of man. That's why we have
that story. And I hold those words fast by
not only believing, but loving God's electing grace. I love
this truth. Aaron, God chose me. And that's
my only hope. I never would have chosen him.
I love those words. I love that truth. That's how
we hold those things fast. Sound words are the Lord Jesus
Christ came to this earth and he accomplished all the salvation
of God's elect. Christ came and made his people
righteous by obeying the law for them. And I tell you how
I hold those sound words fast. by not trying to please God to
keep the law, to make myself righteous, or even to make myself
a little more righteous so it'll be easier for Christ to save
me. No, I hold those words fast by resting in Christ and relying
on Him to do it all. That's holding fast, those sound
words. Sound words are Christ justified
His people. He made His people to be without
sin. because He took their sin away
from them at Calvary. He put their sin away by the
blood of His sacrifice. His blood blotted out the sin
of God's elect. Now those are sound words. That's
good doctrine. But I hold those sound words
fast. By not trying to put some of
my sin away, or trying to make up for some of my, you know,
trying to balance the scales a little bit by trying to do
some good things that will offset the bad things that I've done.
No, I hold those words fast by resting in Christ. He's finished
the work. While all I see about myself
is sin, this is what I believe. I've been justified, made without
sin through the blood of Christ, and I rest in him. He's all my
salvation. Christ justified his people and
he sanctified his people. He put their sin away. He made
them without sin, but then he made them holy. He gave them
a new nature, a holy nature in the new birth. And I hold those
sound words fast by not thinking that as a believer that I can
make myself holy by living right, by being more. I hold those words
fast by believing this, seeing this, that even after I've been
born again, my flesh is just as rotten and just as sinful
as it ever was. The only way I'm holy is by being
in Christ, by having a new man born in me who has the nature
of Christ. Those are sound words. Hold them fast. Believe them.
Sound words are these. Salvation is by grace, not by
words, by grace. That way, God gets all the glory
and man gets none, doesn't it? Then there must be sound words.
Look back in Ephesians 2. Salvation is by grace. Ephesians 2 verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Salvation is by grace, not by
works. Salvation And I tell you, is
by grace. I hold those sound words fast
by never depending on my own words. I hold those sound words
fast by never depending on my religious background or my religious
knowledge and just resting in Christ. That's how I hold them
fast. Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. Well,
I hold those sound words fast by believing The only reason
I'm saved is not because I deserve it. It's because God gave me
what Christ deserved. What he earned for me is my substitute. The in sound words are these.
Salvation is experienced in the new birth. It's applied in the
new birth. Our Lord said you must be born
again. Why do you say that? Why do you
say you must be born again? Well, because all men are falling
out. When Adam sinned, all of us sinned. When Adam became guilty,
all of us became guilty before God at the exact same time. That's
how we became legally guilty. Adam's sin was imputed to us.
His guilt was imputed to us. But Adam's guilt and sin was
also imparted to us, put in us. When Adam sinned, he died. And
we did too. We received Adam's sinful nature. That's how we became dead in
sin. Now, if we're going to be saved, two things have got to
happen. We've got to be made not guilty. We've got to have
our sin taken away. But we've also got to be given
a holy nature that God will accept. And Christ accomplished both
of those things, justification and sanctification in one great
transaction. He removed the sin of his people
by taking their sin, his body on the tree and putting their
sin away. There's no sin left for any of
God's elect. It's been removed by the blood of Christ. And then
God's elect receive a new holy nature in the new birth. It's
a nature that cannot sin because it's the nature of Christ given
to us. Those are sound words. And I tell you how I hold those
sound words fast. By believing there is nothing
good of There is nothing good can ever be produced from my
flesh. There's nothing good off me.
I'll tell you what, there's something good in me. It's the nature that
God put in me in the new birth. Salvation requires both a work
done for us and a work done in us. And that's what we have in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And holding those sound words
fast is just resting in Christ. Sound words are these, salvation
is eternal. Did you know that? Salvation
is eternal. God has always seen his people
as righteous. He's always seen them as justified.
He's always seen them as saved in eternity. Before anything
was ever created, God saw his people as justified in Christ. Now, does God see his people
as justified now? Well, of course he does. Christ
justified us, right? Well, God never changes. So if he sees us as justified
now, he'd always see us as justified. God never changes his mind. If
he sees us as justified now, he always saw us as justified. Salvation's eternal. But now
that salvation had to be purchased in time, didn't it? Christ is
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But there had to
come a time that he was slain in time. And that's what he came and accomplished
to Calvary. He had purchased the salvation
of his people. And then that salvation must
be applied to the heart in the new birth. Look back in the book
of Ephesians again, verse one. These are the sound words that
the apostle Paul gives us here, beginning in verse three of Ephesians
one. Salvation began, God's electing
grace. It was purchased in time. by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was applied to the heart
by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ himself. according to the good pleasure
of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein
he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first
trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted after that you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. in whom also
after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. Now, those are sound words. And
I tell you how I hold those sound words fast. By just always looking
to and depending upon and relying on Christ to save me, we hold
those sound words fast in faith. You hold them fast because you
believe God. Now, I want you to listen to me, especially you
young people, you listen to me. Don't hold these sound words
fast because Gil said them or because Spurgeon said them. Don't
hold these sound words fast because Henry said them or Frank said
them. Don't hold these sound words fast because, well, this
is what my parents and grandparents have always believed. This is
what the church has always taught. Don't hold them fast. Don't believe
them for that reason. Hold fast to these words because
you believe God. Because you believe the Word
of God. Look over at chapter 3 of 2 Timothy. Timothy was just
like you all. All you young people. He grew
up being taught the gospel from his mother and his grandmother.
And Paul tells him, now you hold these words fast. You hold fast
to sound words. You believe them because they're
the Word of God. chapter three, verse 14. He says,
but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and
hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
Now, he's not speaking there of his mother and grandmother
and him. He's speaking of the Holy Spirit. Look at 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. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all
good works. You hold fast to those words
in faith because you believe God. And hold fast to these words,
Paul says, in love. Hold fast to them because you
love God. Now we've got to have right doctrine.
We've got to preach right doctrine, but be very careful. Don't hold
fast to doctrine. People who just hold fast to
doctrine and not Christ become hard and mean and argumentative. Don't do that. Hold fast to these
sound words because you love God, because you love Christ,
because you love the Word of God, because you love the people
of God. The best motivator there is, is love. You know why I come
home to Channa every day? Every day I come home to home.
I've remained faithful to her. You know why? It's not because
we've got a piece of paper, we still got it somewhere, a marriage
certificate. She doesn't get that piece of
paper out and say, look here, you're supposed to come home
to me every day. Look here, you're supposed to do, you know, certain,
you got certain requirements, you gotta fill. No, I don't remember
the last time I've seen a piece of paper, so I'm married to her.
You know why I come home to her every day? Because I love her. Why does a believer stay faithful
and hold fast these words? Out of love for Christ. Whatever
you love, you'll hold fast. You'll hold dear. Hold these
words fast because you love them. And hold these words fast. Hold
fast to these sound words for your own self. Look at Hebrews
chapter four. Hold them fast for your own self
so you don't become reprobate, so you don't leave the mercy
and grace of God. Hold them fast for yourself.
Hebrews 4 verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity,
but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. You hold fast to these sound
words, so you don't fall away. Now, I know this, that if somebody
falls away, they come for a while, they say they believe the gospel,
and they may stick around for years. And then they leave and
they say they never did, but they don't believe anymore. You
know, whatever. I understand they did that because they never
belonged to God in the first place. I understand they did
that because God never gave him faith in the first place. But
the word of God tells us. You hold back these sound words.
That's what tells us, isn't it? I understand that, but the word
of God tells us you hold fast like your life depends upon.
I know my eternal security is not found in the strength of
my faith or how hard I'm hanging on. My eternal security is based
on this. No man is able to pluck them
out of my hand. No man is able to pluck them out of my father's
hand. I believe that. But I'll tell you what, I'm still
hanging on for all I'm worth. I'm hanging on to my father's
hand for all I'm worth because I need him and I want to be close
to him. Hold fast to these sound words
for yourself. And secondly, hold fast to these
sound words for the sake of others. Wayne, you hold fast to these
sound words. If suddenly you decide, I don't
like this anymore. I'm not going to do this anymore.
I'm not going to go there anymore. I'm just going to go fishing
every Sunday. I'm not going to do this anymore. You're going
to take others with you. is that your life and knowledge,
you're responsible for them. You hold fast the form of sound
words for others. When Pilate was saying, why don't
I let Jesus go and we'll crucify Barabbas? He said, this man's
done nothing to me, so I'll let him go. You know what those Jews
cried? Let his blood be on us. On our children. brother it has
been for 2,000 years. You hold fast this form of sound
words. Hold fast these form of sound
words for the good of others, for the good of your family,
for the good of this congregation. Look over a few pages of Hebrews
10. Verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. For he's faithful that promised,
and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is, but exhorting, encouraging one another, and
so much the more as you see the day approaching. Hold fast to
form of these sound words and be an example of faithfulness.
And don't just be an example of faithfulness that you show
up every time the doors are open. I hope you do, but be here. to encourage one another, give
a word of encouragement and comfort to one another, to help one another. Hold fast to these sound words.
I'll tell you, Christ in the heart will affect how we treat
others. It will. It'll affect how we
treat others in the church. Hold fast to these sound words
to forgive one another as God, for Christ's sake, is forgiving
you. Hold fast to that. Hold fast to sound words to endeavor
to keep the bond, the unity of the spirit, the bond of peace.
When Paul says endeavor to keep the unity, you know what he means?
He means work hard at it. Sometimes it's necessary for
you to work hard at forgiving one another, to keep the unity,
the bond of peace. And you know what else? Sometimes
it's very difficult for somebody else to do the same for you.
Work hard at that. Those are sound words. Work hard
at it. Don't let personal differences get in the way of us worshiping
the Lord in spirit together. And Christ in the heart will
affect how we treat others here at the church, but also outside. When you leave this building,
you go out in public, you men, you'd be the best husband and
father you can be. You ladies, you'd be the best
wife and mother you can be. You children, be the best child
you can be. Be the best teenager that you can be. Be the best
son and daughter you can be. When you got there on the job,
be the best worker. When you're out there mowing
your grass and doing things, be the best neighbor you can
be. Hold fast to those sound words. They're the word of God. That's the word of God that's
been taught to us. They're sound words, aren't they?
Oh, may God be pleased to make us faithful. So that's how we'll
hold them fast. All right. Lord bless.