You'll turn back with me now
to 2 Timothy chapter one. I wanna make some comments on
verses seven through 12, but mainly the message is around
verse seven. Timothy was a young minister
of God, and Paul, now an aged man, a man taught of God, one
well experienced in the ministry, one who knew something about
the preaching of the gospel and the persecutions and troubles
brought upon us because of these things. And now sitting in a
Roman prison, he thinks on this, his young son in the faith, And
he writes to instruct him and to inspire him and to motivate
him and to stir up the gift of God, which he believed was in
him. He believed this young man to
be a true convert of his, who truly heard the gospel, manifested
that new birth, manifested that knowledge of Christ in the life
he lived. And I have a very similar goal
this morning. I'm getting older. No one knows
that more than me. I'm getting older. And I know
my end is near. Let's say I lived another 20
years. That's pretty near. That's pretty
near. And I have confidence in this
assembly and I want to stir you up as he wanted to stir Timothy
up. I want to stir you up as to the
gift which God has given to you. If indeed you know God, it's
a gift from God, is it not? We say what gift? In particular? The gift of God's spirit. Natural man born in sin. He's
born with a fallen nature. He comes forth from the womb,
speaking lies. He goes astray as soon as he's
born, speaking lies. He has no spiritual ability whatsoever. Paul said, destruction and misery
are in his ways. The way of peace he's not known.
Oh, I've known the way a long time. No, you haven't. Scripture
says very plainly, the way of peace you've not known. No fear of God before their eyes,
and there's none that understandeth, and none that seeketh after God. He is what some writers call
totally depraved. That's man. That's natural man. Totally depraved. If there's to be any change and
there must be one effected to be reconciled to God, God must
do something for him and he must do something in him. He's not
just gonna set around and evolve into a Christian. He's not going to suddenly hear
a voice and jump up and go do whatever
he says God has told him to do. If there's going to be any change
in a natural man, God must do the changing. God must intervene. And everything God does for him
and in him then becomes a gift. It is the gift of God. Does he
even acknowledge that there is a God? Is there any interest
in him to even go hear what somebody says about it? It's a gift of God. What are
the providence that brought you here today? Well, you say, I
brought myself. Yeah, you brought yourself in
the providence of God. That's the gift of God. Everything God does for him and
in him is a gift. Listen to this scripture. If
through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace
of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many. He said the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life. His election is by grace,
that's a gift of God. Our acceptance to God in Ephesians
chapter one, our acceptance to God in the beloved is to the
praise of the glory of his grace. That's God's gift. And redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. And
then he says this, by grace are you saved through faith. Do you
believe? I didn't say, did you believe
at one time, I'm asking you this morning, do you believe? If you
have faith and you're here this morning, he says here, it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Everything
God does for us and in us is out of his sovereign, immutable
grace. It's the gift of God. Our Lord said to his disciples,
they said, they don't understand what you're saying. They're upset
because they don't understand. He said, it's given unto you
to understand the mysteries of the kingdom. It's not given to
them. It's the gift of God. And there's no such thing as
a believer who has not the gift of God's Spirit abiding in him. There's no such thing. You can't
be a believer apart from the abiding of the Holy Ghost in
you. I have not seen, he tells us
in 1 Corinthians 2, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that
love him, but he hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Christ said, I'll pray the Father
when I'm gone, and he shall send you another comforter that he
might abide with you forever. Without this precious gift of
the Spirit, we would just continue on in our natural state, either
in some pretense of religion or as heathen rebels living out
Our days in the flesh to its full potential. Are you with me? You understand
what I'm saying? Natural man, if left to himself,
will perish. He'll perish. God must do something
for him and he must do something in him. And when he does, it's a gift.
It's a gift. We shut up to the sovereign mercy
and grace of God in Christ. It's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but of God that shall with mercy. We can never do anything for
ourselves. God must enable us to do these
things. So what happens when God gives
us his spirit? What happens? How do we know
God has given to us of his spirit? How do we know this? What happens? What happens to a man when God
gives him the gift of his spirit? Well, look with me at my text
here in 2 Timothy 1, 7. For God has not given to us the
spirit of fear. Boy, we fear everything, don't
we, in the flesh? We fear everything. We fear disease. We fear the unknown. We fear things that we, our fear
doesn't accomplish anything. We fear things that we couldn't
do anything about, and yet we go on, we're just, we fear everything.
But when God saves a man, brings him to know him, gives him the
gift of his spirit, He doesn't send him the spirit of fear, but of power. These are the three
things I want to talk to you about. He gives him the gift
of his spirit, and it's not a spirit of fear, but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. Now let's look at these things
and see if I can stir up this precious gift that God has given
to you. First of all, he tells us we
have the spirit of power. Does that mean I can raise the
dead? Some of them did. Does that mean I can do that? I can run out here to the cemetery?
All these guys who try to say they have the gift of God, to
heal the sick. They can't even heal a common
cold. You have that gift? Go out to the cemetery and raise
the dead. Then I'll listen to you. You
don't have that gift. So what's he talking about here?
The spirit of power. We suddenly have power to heal
and power to rule and power to judge, power to do this and that.
What kind of power is he talking about? What does it mean to have
the spirit of power? It means that you have the powerful
working of the Holy Spirit in you. That's what he's talking,
he's not talking about your power, he's talking about his. And he's
talking about the effect of that power in you. And that's it,
you do have power. We're recipients of the inward
working of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost first begats us. That's an exercise of power over
death, is it not? He gives us life. You hath he
quickened who were dead. Do you draw that out of the flesh? No. No, the Spirit of God worked
in me. He begat us. We're born again,
born of the Word and of the Spirit. And the Lord tells us this, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. In John chapter one, you read
down through there, it's talking about Christ. He said, as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God. Is that talking about power in
the sense of authority or power, in the sense of ability. I asked
Brother Don that one time, and he said, yes. Talk about both. Talk about both. 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 the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. And then in Colossians 1, he
tells us, God hath made us meek. He has enabled us to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light, or of enlightened saints. He brought us into his marvelous
light. He called us out of darkness
into his marvelous light. He hath enlightened our minds
and hearts. He tells us God hath from the
beginning chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit. The spirit does a work in us
that sets us apart from other men. And along with the spirit
is belief of the truth. He gives us power to believe. He enables us to believe. What
can we do to work the works of God? You know what Christ said?
This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has
said. That's God's work, and you can work it if God works
in you. He don't believe for you, you're
gonna believe. But you're not gonna believe apart from him
giving you power to believe. It'll never happen. Peter said, we are elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now listen, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience, and the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ. Unto obedience. The Spirit of
God causes a man to submit himself. Submit himself to what? Submit
himself to the means of God? Submit himself to God himself?
Submit himself to the gospel. Paul said, I know your election
of God. My gospel came not in word only,
but it came in power and in the Holy Ghost, and you've become
followers of us. You mean that's an evidence of
election? Sure is. It sure is. And the Lord. for us as we are
sent of the Lord. The Holy Ghost enables us to
hear, to submit, to understand, to reason, to believe, to repent. Paul, having defined the carnal
mind, said in Romans 8.8, so then, they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. You see, the carnal mind's enmity
against God. It's hostility toward God. So that they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But you're not in the flesh,
but in the spirit, if so be the spirit of God dwell in you. And
if any man had not the spirit of Christ, he's none of his. And so then he sums it up and
says, as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons
of God. All right, here's the second
thing. That's power. He gives us power to become sons
of God. Here's the second thing. He said,
God has given to us the spirit of love. The spirit of love. It is absolutely impossible to
receive the power of an enlightened mind and not perceive it as the
gift of God's grace, His loving grace. Why? Because the enlightened
man sees the Son of God being given for him, for him, suffering,
dying for him, bearing an unspeakable shame and humiliation for him. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God was made of no reputation. We think we
know something about humility, we don't know anything about
humility. This is God, God Almighty, all knowing, everywhere present,
all power, perfect in his character. And he suffers a humility and
was made in the likeness of men who are lower than the angels.
You can read it in Hebrews chapter two. Oh, my soul. Bearing an unspeakable shame
and humiliation, this is God the Father who loved us from
the beginning, manifesting that love for us in the sacrifice
of his son. giving him not only freely and
without reservation, but giving him for a people who were yet
breathing out their enmity against God, actively hating God. Scripture
said, when we were yet without strength and due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. or scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Everything about this gracious
salvation is thoroughly marinated in the love of God. You guys
here and you ladies of the cook, you know what a marinade is.
You marinate a meat or a vegetable or anything and when it's all
done, you can taste that marinade. Huh? Is that right? If you eat this gospel, you cannot
help but savor the love of God in every ounce of it. It's thoroughly
marinated in the love of God, every part of it. Listen to John. Behold, he said, What manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God? Huh? Therefore the world knoweth us
not because it knew him not. And I'm gonna tell you something.
It's one thing for a man like Barabbas to be set free and pardoned
of all his crimes. But it's another thing altogether
to perceive your pardon as being the means of your adoption. Paul told the Galatians, when
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law. Now watch this. That we might
receive the adoption of sons. Oh, my soul. And because you're
sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. There's nothing in the gospel
we preach to puff up men or make them proud critics of the human
race. They'll say in their heart, there
go I. But for the grace of God, I'd
be just like him, won't just like him. He is the spirit of power and
he is the spirit of love. And then thirdly, we have in
us the gift of God giving to us the spirit of a sound mind. What on earth is a sound mind? How would I even know if I had
a sound mind? A sound mind is a perception
of things as they really are. That's a sound mind. We've got a holiday coming up
called Halloween. And during that day, little kids
and some adults dress up and pretend to be something they're
not. And they go house to house begging. Whatever you're willing
to give them, they hold out their little sack. And whatever you're
willing to give them, they put in the sack. I fully understand why this is
a religious holiday. Because religious men and women
who don't know God, they pretend every day to be something they're
not. and to be going where they were
never invited to experience what they've never been promised.
A sound mind understands that it's worthy only of condemnation
and wrath. Everything else is the gift of
God. Everything. A sound mind knows
that salvation is by the sovereign grace of God and it comes through
the person and work of Christ. Look at our text here in verse
nine. who, that is God, has saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Salvation is a work set in place
before the first man was ever given breath of God, before Adam
ever breathed his first breath. Salvation was already put into
action. It was already purposed and promised. Actually, it refers to Christ
as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And if you really want to see
something, creation is the work of the Redeemer. This one Paul said in Colossians
1, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him, and he is before
all things, and by him all things have their continuance, all things
consist. They were made by him and they
were made for him. Every believer has a being as
the gift of God to be an object of his sovereign grace and to
manifest the glory of God our Savior. Jesus Christ received
all his eternal appointments before the foundation of the
world. But a sound mind doesn't just rejoice in the sovereign
eternal purpose of God in Christ, nor does he rejoice in some eternal
scheme or plan or counsel. Look again here at our text,
verse 10. He talks about that gift of God
that was given us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
but now watch this, but is now made manifest. by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
We're not just rejoicing in something that was purposed to be before
the world was. We're rejoicing in that which
was purposed was manifested. It came to be. He appeared just
as he said he would. He appeared just as he was purposed
to do. It's now manifested. And this
one in whom it's manifested, he abolished death. And he brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. He is the gospel. There was a
time when Jesus Christ was unknown, unseen, unacknowledged by any
creature. And then In the providence of
God, he began to be promised and pictured by chosen prophets,
set forth in the law as a propitiation for our sins. And then when the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son. He appeared,
He was manifested. Everything God promised and pictured,
everything God purposed, He accomplished in the person and work of His
Son. So how does this sound mind come
to be a reality in chosen sinners? Look at verse 11. Whereunto I
am appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of
the Gentiles. Nobody simply stumbles onto the
gospel. Don't you listen to them when
they start that. There are plenty out there that will tell you
that. Nobody stumbles onto the gospel. Nobody reads and figures
it out by his own intellect. I just read the scriptures and
it came to me. Nobody receives a sound mind
by vision or by hearing voices in the dark. The gift of the
spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind come through
the preaching of the gospel. That's what Paul said, whereunto
I'm appointed a preacher. Now you can become religious
on almost anything. Just about anything. A daydream. Walking an aisle. Shaking a hand. A good feeling. I've heard it
all. You can be religious on almost
anything. You can become a Calvinist with
a lot of study. You sure can. You read the books.
They'll show you, they'll whack off all these idiotic ideas and
you'll be a Calvinist. You can get to be a Calvinist
on your own by study, but you cannot become a believer until
you hear the truth. Listen to this, Ephesians 111,
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. That's talking about
God who first trusted in Christ. Now listen to this. In whom you
also trusted after that you heard the word of truth. When did you
trust him? After you heard. after you heard
the word of the gospel of your salvation and whom also after
that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. All right, one more thing and
I'll wrap this up. How in the world does a poor
sinner know if God has given to him a sound mind? How do I know that? Look down
here with me in the middle of verse 12. For I know whom I have
believed. I know whom. Salvation's in a
person. Everything a sound mind knows,
it has learned in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well, preacher, where's all this
going? Well, let's finish verse 12. For the which cause I suffer
these things, nevertheless I'm not ashamed, for I know whom
I have believed. Now watch it. And am persuaded. Ain't that something? You couldn't
persuade a natural man to scratch his ear. He hates God that much. He's
not gonna listen to a preacher tell him anything. But this man heard, and God enabled
him to be reasoned with, and he is persuaded now. I know whom
I have believed, and knowing him, am persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Why does a sound mind commit
to him? What does it commit to Him? It commits righteousness, reconciliation,
justification, sanctification, providence, our daily walk, our
health, our well-being, our jobs, our future, our souls and the
souls of our children. We commit everything into His
hands. All of it. We don't look to ourselves
for anything. We look to Him. We look to Him. because a sound mind knows he
alone is able to keep these things. Oh, may God be pleased to stir
up the gift that's in us for Christ's sake and look to him
for all things. Father, we ask this morning that
you take the message and in simplicity reveal it to
our hearts and minds and work in us and manifest that glory
that you've accomplished in Christ in us. We ask it for Christ's
sake.