I wish to read just three verses,
not together, three separate verses. And before we read them, each of them contains a specific
word and you'll see it as we read. And the word is sound. S O U N D. Sound. First in chapter one and verse
seven. For God hath not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now the us here is initially
Paul writing to Timothy, but by divine inspiration, it's all
the Lord's children. all God's elect. God had not
given unto us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and
a sound mind. He has not given that to Adam's
race. Matter of fact, all the New Testament
epistles are written to the Lord's people. And that's why religion
is so warped up today is people have tried to take what God gave
to his church. and give it to a God hating world.
It don't fit out there. It don't fit out there. So here
it's a sound mind. And the Greek word for sound
here is disciplined. A disciplined mind. The next
verse is in the same chapter, chapter one and verse 13, Paul
tells Timothy, hold fast the form of sound words which thou
hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Now this word translated sound
in English is a different Greek word and it means healthy, wholesome. Hold fast the form of healthy
and wholesome sound words. The third verse is in chapter
four and verse three. Chapter four, verse three, for
the time will come when they, it's not us now it's they, It's not us believers, it's they
unbelievers. Not necessarily they non-religious,
but they religious. The time will come when they
will not endure sound, same word, healthy, wholesome doctrine. But after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Now it is believed that this
is the last epistle Paul wrote that's included in scripture.
He no doubt wrote many, many personal letters being the only
means of communication from a distant place. Uh, They wrote letters. Thankfully,
they didn't have AT&T to deal with, so they wrote letters. But a few of these personal letters,
two to Timothy, one to Titus, one to Philemon, are preserved
in the New Testament. Not just because historians were
smart enough to find these three and hold on to them. No, no.
But by divine inspiration, the Holy Ghost saw to it that these
personal letters are recorded in the New Testament. That does
not mean there should have been more letters preserved, not at
all. It simply adds value to these letters that the Holy Spirit
was pleased to preserve and record for us to this day. Now, at this
time, Paul is an old man. Historically, they say he wasn't
as old as some of us are, but the lifespan wasn't then what
it is now. But he's an old man. He's about
to pass off the scene. And he writes this serious letter
to young Timothy concerning maintaining the purity of the gospel, the preservation,
the proclamation, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's been around a while. He
said in the fifth verse, when I call to remembrance, the unfeigned
faith that is in thee. That word unfeigned, it means
genuine, without hypocrisy. Paul said, I sense And I remember
from being with you, I call it remembrance, the unfeigned, the
genuine faith that is in thee. And he said, I remember your
mother and I remember your grandmother, how that they were great believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they possessed this kind
of faith, genuine, unfeigned. This kind of faith is the gift
of God. And Paul recognized it in Timothy
and Paul felt he wasn't wasting his time to write this letter
to Timothy. So now with that understood,
I would say now personally at this stage in my own life, I look back 50 years. Seems like a long time, doesn't
it? But not really. I was 20 years
old. And I'm saying this to tell you
that I knew some very dear saints who really knew God and loved
God with all their hearts. They lived their lives to honor
him above all else. I remember a few, and I could
call names, and they weren't all preachers either. Godly mothers,
hardworking dads providing for a family. But God came first in their lives
and in their homes. And that was not without effect
in my own heart at my age. And it has not left my memory
in 50 years. I can say, as Paul said to Timothy
here, I remember their unfeigned faith. It was genuine. It was without hypocrisy. It
was God given. Now, on a less pleasant note,
I can also remember hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
religious folks, church goers, cream of the crop if you just
ask them. That I have reason to wonder
if there was ever anything genuine about them or not. Not that it's mine to judge.
I understand that. I'm just saying some lives have
meant so much to me while others have meant almost nothing. I've known a few that would say
to us today, what Paul wrote to Timothy. I want to comment a few minutes
on these three verses of scripture. with these specific thoughts.
The first verse we read in chapter 1, verse 7, Paul speaks a word of deliverance. He reminds Timothy that because
of what God has done in his life, he's not like most other people. He's not better than anybody.
That's not the idea. But because of what the Lord
has done, He's not exactly like any other person. And our Lord is that big, by
the way. He's not going to make you exactly
like any other person. We all pick out heroes and say,
boy, if I was like that, if I was like him, if I was like that.
No, no, you're not going to be. You're not going to be. And the way the Lord works, what
measure of influence you have for good on anybody else? You
won't even know it. You know why? You'd steal the
glory. Look at me. I'm somebody to them. The Lord said in first Corinthians
one that he does it the way he does that no flesh. should glory in his presence. So Paul says to Timothy, what
God has given you is of great value. He's delivered you first
from the power of sin and Satan, which before dominated your life.
He's delivered you from the spirit that prevails in the unregenerate. The first statement in the verse,
for God has not given us the spirit of fear. Now the word
spirit there, we're just going to do a little down to earth
teaching from the scripture itself. I don't have any fairy tales
or jokes or stuff like that for you today. For God had not given
us the spirit of fear. The word spirit here is not capitalized. It's not a reference to the Holy
Spirit, but rather to that dominant force in your life, your want
to, so to speak, your spirit. The word fear is not the reverential
fear of God in our hearts. All true believers have that.
But here the word means a cowardly fear. So as to be afraid of men
or the devil, afraid of what someone thinks or says or does. So as to bring us into a state
of defeat and discouragement and be deterred to be hindered
from our pursuit of Christ and truth and godliness. This is one preacher writing
to another. And he says, any spirit that would move you to
step aside from the truth and be careful not to offend
Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so. Paul says that spirit of fear
did not come from God. Wasn't God that give you that? Oh, now, you know, I want to
be a Christian about it. I want to be, I don't want to
offend so-and-so. When you have to sidestep the
truth, you're not being a Christian. Huh? If you know what you believe
this morning, not just with your lips, but with your life. If it's the right stuff, you
don't have to fear this world or the devil. God hath not given
us the spirit of fear, but of power. Now the word here is not authority. Some places in the new Testament,
it is. The Greek word translated Power means authority, not here.
Here, the word is simply ability. God puts in his children a spirit
that says, I can and I will. Not because I'm able, but because
he is. Most of what I've heard church
folks say over all these years, it goes something like this.
I can't. I never have. Preacher, I don't think I could. I'd rather not. I'm not good
at that. I'd prefer you ask someone else.
Paul said, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens
me. He's not bragging on his own
strength, but he says, Christ strengthened me. So here, Paul
is saying to Timothy, God has given us the spirit of power,
ability. You can do anything God sends
you to do. The next phrase and of love,
agape, a love that demands nothing in return, the whole thrust of
modern religion is give in order to get. You do and God will do. You send us $100 and God's going
to send you a truckload next week. No, no. He's given us this spirit of
love, a love that demands nothing in return. God gives us this. Then he said, he has given us
this spirit of a sound mind. There's my word sound. And in
this usage, the meaning is disciplined. God has given his children a
disciplined mind. I couldn't begin to tell you
how many times over the past many years, people have come
to me. with something specific and said, is such and such wrong? Do you believe this is a sin?
Preacher, do you believe this or that is a sin? Let's be real clear right here.
Let's be real clear right here. Our sins are covered. If you're
God's child, past, present, and future in the blood of the lamb. The issue is not always is such-and-such
wrong, is such-and-such a sin. The question is such-and-such
wise. Is it with a sound mind, a disciplined
mind? Is this profitable? Is this best? Will it have any spiritual benefit? Would it hinder or help? Is it
wise? Paul is saying, Timothy, God's
mercy and grace and goodness has given us a disciplined mind. We're able to think things through. Whether a thing be for the glory
of God or not. Whether it be to feed our rotten
flesh, and amuse and pacify and entertain,
or whether it be for the glory of God. See, this is not just
Paul writing to Timothy. This is the Holy Ghost writing
to all God's children for this present moment. Because of God's gift to us, because He lives in us, We don't
really have to worry about distinguishing between right and wrong. He's put something in us that
knows in a split second if it's right or wrong. The gift of God, deliverance
from sin and Satan. It involved our redemption. through
the blood of Christ on the cross, and our regeneration being quickening
through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Now, Paul
says to Timothy in verse 8, to expand on this a little bit,
he says, don't you be ashamed of this, son. We're the only ones in this world
that's got anything that we don't have to be ashamed of. Because it's not our doing. It's
what God's done for us. What He's done. Verse 9. What's
He done? Well, verse 9. Who hath saved
us. Your old brother Joe Parson used
to say, watch words carefully when you read the Bible. Just
don't try to overdo it. Just carefully, slowly watch
the words. God who had saved us. Well, we got saved. No, he saved
us. I'm glad I decided to get saved.
No, he saved us. When we were enemies. in our flesh to God. He saved
us. When we were yet in our sins,
Christ died for us. He hath saved us. Well, I found
the Lord. No, He wasn't lost. You were. He hath saved us and
called us Now look at these two things in their order, saved
us and called us. The saved here is not regeneration,
being born again, what we call being saved. No, that happened
when he called us. This saving is before he called
us. He did a lot of saving before
he called us. If you're God's child, you'll
appreciate this. If you're not, you won't. He did a lot of saving before
he caught us. He saved us from death. And we could go, we could go
way, way, way back. Why weren't you a miscarriage? Why weren't you a stillborn?
Why weren't you aborted? You say, oh, my parents wasn't
like that. I wonder who made them like that? Huh? He saved us from death by disease
or from a car wreck or from the victim of someone's negligence.
He saved us from all the fool things that we did that could
have killed us. He saved us from ourself. Your parents taught you to do
right. And the minute you got out of their sight, you chose
to do wrong. We ought to have died. perished
in our sins a thousand times over. But what? He had saved
us. He had saved us. And then in
His own appointed time, He called us. Paul's not talking about the
sissified Arminian call of today's religion. Won't you please come
to Jesus? Won't you give it a try? He's desperate without you. No, Paul is saying he called
us affectually. It took effect in our hearts. He quickened us from the dead. He made us alive and convicted
us of our sins. Somebody says, well, I got unconviction
and then I decided I'd get sacked. No, no, no, no, no, no. Quickening
is first. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespass and sin. You didn't want God in the least
until he wanted you. And if he hadn't have done that
quickening work, you never would have wanted him. called us affectionately, quickened
us, convicted us. We bowed in shame and confession
and repentance and cried for mercy. And we already had mercy or we
wouldn't be crying for it. If you could even cry for mercy,
that is mercy. All right, what about this calling?
He says it's an holy calling. Now we're called to holiness.
Yes, that's spoken numerous places in the New Testament. But this
is describing the calling itself. It's a holy calling. It's a heavenly
calling. It's something sacred, something
priceless. Something not common to all men. And it's so precious, it's so
Holy, it's not to be thought of lightly. And those who have
received this holy and heavenly calling don't think of it lightly,
but rather how blessed, how honored we are that God included the
likes of us in his great salvation. Now, Paul talks about the basis
on which we're called. Not according to our works. Say what? Yeah. Not on the basis
of anything God saw in you. If that's all he was looking
at, he'd have to put you in hell. Not anything good you've done,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose. and grace. When did he determine this? When
did he purpose this? He says it was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. You say that's too deep for me.
No, you're too hellish to like it. That's what's wrong. God is God. He does as he wills
with whom he wills. And he said over and over, he
said it in the old Testament to Moses. Paul repeated it in
Romans nine. God said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. You say, well, does that mean
God's responsible for everybody's going to hell? No, it means he's
responsible for those that aren't. We were born as the children
of our fallen father, Adam. We were born determined to go
to hell. You wouldn't have it any other
way, but God, but God. given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Now that statement warrants,
I've lost my time piece, but I'm not upset about it. That
statement warrants some meditation, which was given unto us. Now, I told you to read your
Bible carefully, not offered, which was offered unto us. No,
no, you weren't here to accept the offer. And you wouldn't have
accepted it if you had been here. Which was given unto us. It's a gift in Christ Jesus. Of course, that's the only way
anything good and holy could be given us anyhow, is in Christ
Jesus. And it was given before the world
began. We weren't here for God to give
it to, but Christ was, he was worth considering. He was holy. He was good. He was worthy. So
we're given this in Christ Jesus. We've got a lot of religions
now that'll talk about God, but they don't want any God associated
with Christ Jesus. All that we have from God is
in Christ Jesus. So this saving, this protecting,
this preservation, God's people are separated from
Adam's race in general. We're God's choice, called God's
elect, given faith to believe, being called by His own purpose
and grace. Some of you are saying, no, I'm
going to be part of this world. I'm going to live it up. Boy,
in one of these days when I get old like you, I'll think about
this. You may not get as old as me.
And I'll tell you something else. You don't have what it takes
to change your heart anyway. You talk about a miserable somebody.
If God leaves some of you with the heart you have this morning
to your dying moment, you'll be most miserable. You better hope he changes something. You ain't got sense enough to
do it, nor the will to do it, even if you could. Called according to his purpose
and grace, first him, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ. That is since he's come.
The word manifest and appearing here seem to be saying the same
thing, but they're not. The first word manifest is a shining forth. Christ is made known to us. He's
been manifest. But the second word appearing
is a shining forth into your heart. He is made manifest to us. and appeared in us. Remember
what Paul said in second Timothy, second Corinthians four, six
for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has
shine in our hearts. He made a personal appearance
in my heart. Hmm. to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
How is it that we have any heart knowledge of God in Christ? We have head knowledge, but heart
knowledge, it's only because he hath shined into our hearts. Hey, oh, he knocked on your heart's
door and you wouldn't let him in. No, he kicked the door down. That's what the God of this Bible
does. The father said to the son, and
by the way, if you can't, you got to, when you read the Psalms,
you've got to look for Christ. Psalm 110 verse three, the father
said to the son, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. That's the only time anybody's
willing. is in the day of His power. Oh, how blessed it would be if
this would be the day for somebody. Oh my, shine in our hearts to
give understanding, faith to believe what we understand that Christ
hath abolished death. The word abolish here means to
render void, to make of none effect. Oh, this flesh must still
die. We know that. Go back to dust. But Paul is saying because of
what Christ has done, instead of death destroying us, it simply
delivers us into his presence. For the believer, for his children,
Christ went into the grave and kicked both ends out. All we
have to do is pass through. In his death, he has brought
life and immortality to light. We understand that things don't
end at death. We're incorruptible beings. in
Christ. Now this flesh is corrupt, of
course, but the new creation in Christ Jesus is incorruptible. Matter of fact, John said it
cannot sin. Now what I'm looking at can sin. It's a sin to look at it, actually. But there's a new creation in
here that cannot sin. That's what I'm supposed to be
thrilled about this morning. Wow. It's Christ in us, the hope
of glory. Now, Paul is simply saying to
Timothy, don't get carried away with any religious mess that
majors on recovering the purity of the flesh. It's irrecoverable. It's a total loss. They take
it to the junkyard. It's not just a bent fender that
you've got, my friend. Your frame is warped. It's not
fixable. And this flesh will live corrupt
and die corrupt. But Paul says to Timothy, God
has given us a sound mind, a disciplined mind to believe the gospel. That this is not about what we
can do, it's about what He has done. And you and I this morning, instead
of hobnobbing around with fleshly, feel-good religion all our lives,
what we have in Christ is bigger than a little chill bump in the
flesh fantasy. We have a sound mind, a disciplined
mind to believe God and believe what He's done for us in Christ
regardless of any humanistic religion that puts you in the
spotlight instead of Him. Paul is hammering this to Timothy.
And the Spirit of God would hammer it to me and to you this morning.
This is not about what we do for Him. It's about what He's
done for us. Can you believe it? That's the
big question. Can you believe it? You say, well, I don't feel it.
Don't expect corrupted flesh to feel good about anything except
what praises you. And the true gospel of Jesus
Christ, what he has done, don't praise you. It praises him. It glorifies him. Paul says in
verse 11, I am appointed a preacher of this gospel. This is why I'm
here. This, and he says, by the way,
this is why I'm hated. This, this is why I'm laying
in this cold, dark dungeon prison. Nevertheless, Timothy. Don't
misunderstand, bud. I am not ashamed. I'm not on
the losing end. That's what men think. But I
know whom I have believed. He appeared to me on the road
to Damascus. And he changed my life. I've
never been the same. And I am persuaded. Are you persuaded
this morning? If you're waiting on the bright
side of man-made religion to persuade you, you'll live and
die in defeat. That pumped up, hyped up stuff
will last you to about the second red light and you're back in
the dumps. But if God opens your eyes to
this, it's a brand new day. Oh, you can do, you can go to
that. You can watch them jump benches and cut flips till midnight. But when they cut the lights
off, it's over. And you know, it's over and you
feel it right in here. You're still that low down self. That was trying to be something
you're not. But to believe this gospel. You're looking outside yourself.
You're looking outside yourself. That's what he's done. Look to
him and live. You remember that story in the
Old Testament about putting that snake on a pole? Them people
was snake bit and they was dying. And the message wasn't turn over
a new leaf. The message was look. Look to
the cross. Look and live. Look to Him. Paul says, I'm persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto
Him, that is, unto His work, unto His accomplishment. against
that day. What day? The day of His appearing. Chapter 4 and verse 8, henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to be
only, but to all them also that love His appearing. There is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, not a crown of gold, The crown of righteousness, the
very righteousness of Christ is the crown of His people. Well, I got to one of the verses,
a sound mind, a disciplined mind to major on Christ and what He
has done for me and not to flatter myself over what a good job I'm
doing. You say, well, now don't discount
what we can do in this body. I mean, I just really believe
God's people all live right. They do. I believe the Lord's people ought
to come to church. They do. I believe God's people ought to
give. They do. Who are you talking about? I believe God's people ought
to behave. They do. The sound mind will bring you to quit putting
everybody that says Lord, Lord in heaven. Christ said, they're not going.
They're not going. So we'll just stop with that
verse this morning. That's about all some of you can take. I'll
get to the other two later. All right. Thank you so much
for listening.