You'll turn back with me now
to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 1. Our subject this morning is
knowing God. It matters little what else you
know if you don't know Him. Knowing God. Pharaoh thought
he knew God. He had a God. He could tell you
all about that God. They had many gods. He could
tell you he led his nation in worship many times out at the
river. He could talk about that god,
or he could talk about the spirit of the wind, or he could talk
about the frogs that they worshiped, or whatever else. All these gods
and deities, he knew all the details of it. He could stand
and talk to you for hours, just as religious men and women do
today. But it's of little value to you
if you don't know God. See, that's where you have to
start. We don't know God. Those Pharisees and Sadducees,
Paul said, I know what you think. Over in Romans chapter 2, you
think you're teachers of babes. You think you're master theologians. You think God has set you aside
to teach. But the Lord told them, he said,
you neither know me nor my father. You don't know God. That's the
problem. We talk to our relatives and
friends and neighbors, and we talk to them about these things,
and they talk back to us as though we're nuts. And the reason they
do that is because they don't know God. If they knew God, they
wouldn't quite be so opposed to the things that God set forth
of Himself. They said, we have Moses, our
father. That's what those Israelites said. If you'd have listened
to Moses, he said you would have rejoiced in me because Moses
wrote of me. You missed Moses' message. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy
while imprisoned in Rome. Seems like a very strange place
for an evangelist and missionary to be when he writes Counseling
a young preacher, don't it? He's in prison. Timothy, who's your pastor? Who taught you the gospel? Paul. Well, where's he at? He's in
prison. See what I'm saying? Seems like
a most unlikely situation for an apostle of God to write scripture,
don't it? Several of these New Testament
epistles were written by Paul while he was in prison in Rome. Seems like the least likely place
God would send a letter of encouragement from, a Roman prison. And yet, that's exactly what
Paul's doing here. And Paul was mindful of how his
witness would be perceived and portrayed by ungodly men. And
so he tells young Timothy that he is in bonds and suffers this
indignity, not of things which he'd done, but for the gospel's
sake. And here's what I want you, I
hope this word jumps out at you like it did me. He tells young
Timothy, he said, nevertheless, nevertheless, he said, I'm not
ashamed. I'm not ashamed. I wonder when our friends and
relatives see our little building here, you bring them out here,
they come to visit you every now and then. I know they do
and you bring them. But I wonder when we bring them over here
and they see this little building and they see this little group
of people and some of them live around here
and they watch and people come and people go. People come, people
go. And then they hear these negative
comments. I wonder if we can still say
with Paul, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. Can you say that? I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed
of my office. I'm not ashamed of my membership.
I'm not ashamed of those who abide here. who fellowship together
here, I'm not ashamed of my message, and I'm not ashamed of how I
preach it or how men receive it. I'm not ashamed. Are you? Well, why? Why, Paul? Why ain't you ashamed? This man
who wrote half the New Testament, sitting down there in a cold,
dark prison, shipwrecked the day and night at sea, beaten
within one stroke of dying several times, Left for dead by thugs,
I don't know how many times, that religious men hired. Why
aren't you ashamed? What'd he say? I know whom I
have believed. He knew God. He knew God. That's what makes the difference,
isn't it? I know God. I know God. years ago there was a young boy
that came to hear Henry Mahan. Henry had a television broadcast
and of course young kids don't know anything. I mean all their
heroes, Roy Rogers and everybody else was on that TV and all of
a sudden on Sunday morning Henry Mahan was on there. And he got
all excited when they told him they were going down to hear
Henry Mahan. And one of his young friends asked him, he said, where
are you going? He said, we're going to hear Henry Mahan. in
person. I mean, that meant something
to that young boy. And this meant something to Paul.
He said, I know whom I have believed. I know him. I know him. And I'm not ashamed. I'm not
ashamed if he puts me in a jail or if he puts me in a hotel.
It's all right. He's God. He's God. I wonder when we bring folks
over, do we get them all prepped before they get here about what
they're going to hear? Now, don't you kind of apologize a little
bit? Now, he's a little rough in his speech. He's a little
plain. You might be shocked a little
bit, huh? I'm not ashamed. Let her rip. Let her rip. Oh, they're going to get mad.
Let her rip. You see where Paul's coming from here? He knew God. He knew God. He had nothing to
be ashamed of. He knew God. I wonder if we can
say with Paul, I'm not ashamed. I know whom I have believed.
Now there's a distinction between knowing whom. Between knowing whom you have
believed and knowing what you believe. There's a big difference. Big difference. Let that settle
in. Big difference between knowing whom you have believed and knowing
what you believe. Knowing what you believe makes
you an intellectual. Yes, it does. That's not a horrible
word. It's okay to be an intellectual.
An intellectual is somebody who can read something and understand
what to read. Knowing what you believe makes you an intellectual.
Knowing whom you believe makes you a son of God. You see the
difference? Knowing what you believe gets
you an advantage in an argument. If you know what you're talking
about, you've got the advantage. Henry told us years ago, when
I was just a young minister, he told me, he said, now, when
men talk to you about these things, he called the title of his lesson
that morning was Home Court Advantage. He was a basketball fan. He said,
get them in your court. Get them in your court. Knowing
what you believe gives you the advantage in an argument. Knowing
whom you believe makes the argument of no consequence. Know what? Knowing what you believe gives
you access to church membership, church approval, might even get
you some initials after your name. Knowing whom you believe
gives you access to the throne of God. Which one do you rather
have? It gives you approval of God.
It gives you the glory of His name instead of them initials. His name in union with yours. Knowing what you believe constitutes
a name on the sign. Knowing whom you believe constitutes
the name of God written on your heart. That's the difference. The reason why there's so many
churches in our land is not a matter of convenience or even a matter
of personal variety. Somebody told me that's what
that was all about. This thing means different things
to different people, and God's promoted this thing that way
so there can be a variety out here and suit everybody. That's
not what that's about. The reason is over differences
that cannot be ironed out, issues of doctrinal points of view,
difference of church government, differences of church goals,
differences over ordinances, and difference over the emphasis
of their ministry. I know a lot of it's been lost
in a religious shuffle. The real differences and issues
are usually stated very clearly outside on the sign. See, when
I was a kid, we didn't have near as many church names as what
they have today. Those issues and all that had
already been argued out over the centuries. They had about
eight or ten names, old names, old church names, and the name
that they put on the sign was generally the issue. Generally
the issue. I'm going to give you some examples
this morning. The Presbyterians. What's that all about? That's
about presbytery. They believe in a presbytery
type of church government. That's the issue. The presbytery
is a court composed of ministers and elders and deacons whose
job it is to rule over all the affairs of the church. They have
a presbytery. They don't have a pastor. They
have a presbytery. They generally sit right up front.
They've got a chief seat in the synagogue, and they sit them
right up there, and they rule over everything. And the pastor
has to keep looking down at them to make sure what he said is
okay or else he's out. Presbytery. Methodist. The Methodists
were founded under the influence of John and Charles Wesley, And
the emphasis was on the method in which God saves sinners. That's
where all your altar calls and your walking to the front and
all that mess come from, through the Methodist. Pentecostalism
emphasizes apostolic gifts, tongues, gifts of healing, all that kind
of stuff. Catholics emphasize the universal, visible church
controlled by an internal structure of priests and cardinals and
bishops with the Pope at the head. Catholics. That's what
that word means, universal. Nazarenes, the emphasis is on
personal holiness, on a consecrated lifestyle, going all the way
back to the law of Moses and the law concerning the Nazarene,
a man whose whole life was dedicated to the Lord. Episcopalians, they
believe similarly to the Presbyterians in the government, except their
presbytery is made up entirely of bishops, preachers, pastors. That's what that word means,
episcopate. It means the term or the office of a pastor. Seventh-day Adventist, the seventh
day, the Sabbath. The Church of the Latter-day
Saints or Mormons, what's their issue? Prophecy. Christian Science,
that's a church founded under Mary Baker Eddy years ago, and
it emphasizes spiritual healing. That's what All of that's about. And the list goes on and on,
and none are as prolific as the Baptists. My soul, you drive
around, you just, there's no end to the Baptists. There's
regular Baptists, and particular Baptists, and free will Baptists,
and southern Baptists, and northern Baptists, and first Baptists,
and last Baptists, and everything in between. They're the worst
of the bunch. Generally, a Methodist, there's
just two or three, you know, Presbyterians are just two or
three, but boy, you get into Baptists, look out. I mean, there's
as many Baptists as there is people. And all of these distinctions
are born of men out of what they're convinced they know. It's born out of what they're
convinced they know. Now, we know this, and I'll stand
up and go on and on and on. The Church of the Living God
is known by Whatever name is put on the sign, it's known by
whom they believe. They preach a sovereign God.
He's sovereign, isn't He? What other kind of God are you
going to preach? They're preaching an unchangeable God. He said
He's unchangeable. What other kind of God are you
going to preach? You see what I mean? They don't know God.
They don't know God. Now, let me say this so I don't
get blindsided with a bunch of questions later on when I leave
the church. Knowing what you believe is very
important. That's very important. Don't
brush it aside and say, well, this don't mean anything. Oh,
yes, it does. It means a lot. It means a lot. There's no such thing as blind
faith. Faith knows and understands what it believes. Paul said here,
listen to this, I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed
and I am persuaded. You can't be persuaded by something
you don't know. He knew. He knew what he believed. But the chief thing was he knew
whom he believed. He knew whom he believed. Until
you come to know the living God, you cannot be brought to understand
what you truly believe. I'm going to show you that. If
your concepts of God are not right, it leaves you to your
own imagination, don't it? Somebody said, well, that's your
opinion. Well, opinions are like noses. Everybody's got one. So
opinions don't amount to nothing, do they? It don't matter. We're not left to our opinions.
This book don't leave you to your opinions. It don't even
ask you for your opinion. I've read it front to back. And if your concepts of God are
not right, it leaves you to your own imaginations and to a thousand
subtle snares of the devil. There was a time when the man
who wrote this letter to Timothy was a Pharisee. He was a religious
man. He was born and raised in the
strictest religion concerning God that's ever been on this
earth. He was a Benjamite. They thought their salvation
was somehow connected to their lineage back to Abraham. He was
a Benjamite. His lineage was unspotted, unblemished. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews,
he said. Touching the law, he's blameless. If you want to talk
about righteousness like the Nazarenes want to talk about,
Paul said, as touching the law of God, I was blameless. He called
for 10%, 10% is what I gave. He called for attendance three
times a day, I came three times a day. Whatever the book said,
that's what I did, outwardly. Outwardly. All of those things
he did. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
His teacher was the most highly regarded teacher, the most renowned
teacher of the day, Gamaliel. And Paul was at the top of the
class. He graduated with honors. Touching
zeal, he went out and brought people in to be persecuted, imprisoned,
and put to death. He held the coats of the men
who stoned The first martyr, Stephen. Paul, standing right
there. Jealous. Then came the revelation
of God in Christ. Now listen to what this same
man said. This proud Pharisee. Listen to
what he said. After this revelation, he wrote to the Corinthian church,
and he said, I have renounced the things of dishonesty. My
soul. I have renounced the things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness any more, nor handling the Word
of God deceitfully any more, but by manifesting the truth
in the sight of God, whom he now knew." You see what he's
saying to Timothy? I know God. I know God. My friend, everything that the
believer believes is born of a revelation of God. Man has
no innate knowledge of God. The Lord said to those religious
men of His day, He said, you neither know Me nor My Father.
You don't know. You think you know. You think
you know. But you don't know. He said,
you believe Moses, you'd believe me for Moses wrote of me. If
Abraham was your father, you'd do the works of Abraham. If God
was your father, you'd love me because I proceed forth and come
from God. Now, why don't you listen to me? If
God can change, we're talking about a God who's unchangeable.
The Scripture says, He changes not. I am the Lord, I change
not. If the Lord can change, there'd
be no need of a suffering Savior. He'd just change. Huh? Isn't that what they say? God
changes His mind? If that were possible, why would
He put His Son to death on a cross? He'd just change. He'd just lower
His standards a little bit. If God can compromise His perfections,
then He can lower His standards and save without the bloody cross.
If God's not inflexibly holy and just, there'd be no judgment
or hell, wouldn't there? What would that be for? If God's
love is not perfect, then He can love all men the same. He loves all men the same. It's
the appearing of, the life and death of, and the resurrection
of Jesus Christ that hath abolished death. and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. That's what I read to you here
a little bit earlier before he gets up to this. Death is the depravity and fallen
nature of man. He hath abolished death. By one man, he said, sin entered
into the world, and death by sin, that's spiritual death,
separation from God. We don't know God. There are
none righteous, and so on. And so this death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. Paul said, and you have the quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. What do you mean, Paul? He said, wherein in the spiritual
death you walked. Can dead men walk? The spiritually
dead can't. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Among whom also we all had our behavior in times past, in the
lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, you see that? God. And when you come to know
the eternal, all-wise, all-knowing God of purpose, you cannot go
on believing in chance and circumstance. You can't do it. Not know God. When you come to know the sovereign,
omnipotent God of glory, you cannot continue to believe in
man's power to resist God. Nothing can resist God. Nothing. Nothing. I declare the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying
my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my pleasure. He ruleth
in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand or even question what He does. He's
God. Just get this idea of controlling
God out of your mind. God is uncontrollable. He's God. He does whatever He
pleases. Our God's in heaven, David said.
He does whatever He pleases. He's God. You come to know that. You're
not going to sit around and talk about resisting God. You don't
know God. You don't know God. He's the head of all principality
and power. Even Satan gets his permission
from God when he comes to try Job. He didn't just dump all
that stuff on Job. He didn't get permission. He
said, you built a hedge about him. Why didn't he tear the hedge
down? Because God's greater than he is. That's why. Same thing with Peter. Our Lord
said, Peter, he said, Satan hath desired to sift you like wheat.
What's he waiting on? Waiting on my permission. A man who comes to know the immutability
of God. He no longer entertains any thought
of God changing his mind. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of light,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Who
of his own immutable, unchangeable, and sovereign will begat us with
the word of truth. And the man who comes to know
the justice of God can't continue on in his own traditional convictions
of how God saved sinners. He's not going to talk about
getting saved. He's not going to talk about
walking down aisles and making commitments and that old experience
he had out in the woods that day when he thought he chopped
his foot off and made a deal with God. That's not salvation. Justice of God has got to be
satisfied. No man can satisfy it. He had
no respect. Cain brought, he was the first
one. You know, people believe that
somehow down through time man has got a little worse, a little
worse, a little worse, a little worse. This thing all goes all
the way back. Here's Cain and Abel. Cain brought
his offering of the best he could produce. Everything was top of
the line. He brought it and put it on the
altar. Took them thumbs and put them in them suspenders and proud
of what he laid there and God spit on it. Had no respect to
it. Walked right past. It didn't
get even an honorable mention, did it? Didn't get nothing. God
just snubbed his nose at it. Huh? No man can satisfy God. Hell
itself can't satisfy God or it wouldn't be everlasting. All
those who believe not that God cast you into hell, it's everlasting
hell. They'll suffer forever. Why?
Because they can never satisfy God. The only one who's ever
satisfied God is Christ. Christ. He said we're sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The man
who comes to know the love of God, he can't continue on in
the greatest lie religion ever told, that God loves all men.
Smile, God loves you. That ain't so. That ain't so. He said, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. God don't love every man. He
loves his own. He loves whom he chose. Or maybe
I should put it, he chose whom he loved. And so did you. If God loved all men, all men
would be brought to hear and love the truth. Listen to this
in Ephesians 2, verse 4. He said, but God, whose rich
in mercy for His great love were with He loved us. Here's the
subject, this love. Even when we were dead in sins,
has quickened us to gather with Christ and raised us up together.
He made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That,
in order that, in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. He's going to show it to you.
Who's He going to show it to? Them He loved. Them He redeemed. He's going to show it to them.
He's going to show it to anybody else? not given unto them to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of God. Ain't that what He said? 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 vote. If God loved all men, He'd pray
to the Father for them, and make intercession on their behalf.
But He plainly says in His high priestly prayer in John 17, I
pray not for the world. Ain't that what He said? If God loved all men, no man
could ever be separated. He tells us in Romans 8, 34 through
39, that nothing can separate you from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Nothing. Not height, nor depth,
nor any other creature. Nothing. Things present, things
to come, principalities, power, don't matter what it is, it can't
separate you from the love of God. That alone ought to be the
basis of knowing that God don't love every man. Every man's not
saved. If God loved all men, all men
would love Him in return, wouldn't they? We loved Him because He
first loved us. If God loved all men, He'd not
have used this thing of a marriage union to symbolize His love.
He's talking about a particular love in a marriage union. Husbands,
love your wife as Christ loved the church, particularly. If God loved all men, He wouldn't
have used these relationships like father and son. Huh? He actually gives name to the
Godhead, the father and the son. Huh? And calls us sons. Oh, then the problem is not in
the love of God. It's in men. We don't know God.
That's the problem. We don't know God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. We don't know anything about His love. That's why we can't
love. I couldn't tell you how many
times people stood before me, and I'd give them marriage vows,
and they'd swear before God, I'm going to love them until
we depart in death. Two years later, well, I don't
love her no more. What happened? What happens is you don't know
God. You don't know anything about God. You don't know anything
about God. Love don't pay half a bill and
hand you the balance. It pays the whole debt. Love
don't draw a map and hand it to you and say, find your own
way. Love comes down in the incarnation of Christ in a man and He declares
to you, I am the way. Huh? I am the way. Love don't
print a book and hope somebody will figure it out. Love sends
the Holy Spirit of God to convince and convert. A man who has come to know God
has learned through the Gospel that God is eternal. Whatever
God says now, He has been saying it forever. You think God is going to say
something somewhere in time that he's not saying right now, God's
eternal. God speaks peace to your heart
right now. He spoke it in eternity past,
and he'll speak it in eternity future. God never changes. He's eternal. What he says now,
he said from the beginning. What he does now, he engaged
in the beginning. Isn't that what Paul says here?
He saved us, 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. He hasn't changed
anything. He's eternal. And God's love
is eternal love. He said, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Our redemption is an everlasting
redemption. It says, by His own blood He
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Isn't that what it says? His mercy is an eternal mercy.
David said, His mercy endureth forever. It endured the fall, didn't it? It endured the fall of the angel.
Those who kept not their first estate cast out into the world. It endures false religion. It
endures Satan's ministers. It endures the enmity and rejection
of men. It endures unbelief and hardness
of heart. His mercy, David said, endureth
forever. It's eternal as God. Listen to the Ancient of Days
as He reveals His glory to Moses. He said, Will be merciful. Huh? Was He? He was. Is He? He is. Will He be? Oh, yeah. Our God is eternal. Because He's
the sovereign, eternal, all-wise God, He is the God of purpose. His sheep are identified as the
called. He said all things work together. We know that. Those who know
God know that. All things work together for
good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. His sheep are identified as being
called according to His purpose, and the text declares that He
saved us by His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. And all those who have life and
immortality brought to light through the gospel in their soul,
They come to know God as the God of purpose, working all things,
Paul said, after the counsel of his own will. Oh, he said
that God would open your understanding to see that. That's where peace
is. That's where persuasion comes
from. That little peanut Jesus they got today couldn't save
himself, let alone save sinners. He can't do anything you don't
let him do. And then lastly, those who know
the living God as He's brought to light through the gospel,
know Him as the God who effectually worketh in you. In you. There's a change inside. If there'd
been no change inside, you don't know the God of glory. I don't
know how many times John tells you that going through the book
of John. He that loveth not knoweth not God. He that loveth not the
brethren, he don't know God. He don't know God. If there had
been no inward change in your heart, there would have been
no outward knowledge. It's brought to light through
the gospel. It's revealed in you. Those who boast of what
they know, they know Christ in His eternal appointments, and
they know Him in His incarnation as a man, and they know Him as
the effectual Redeemer, and they know Him as the risen Lord. But
those who know Him, who know Him, not know what about Him,
but know Him, who know whom they have believed, they have Him
abiding within. It's not Christ enthroned, and
it's not Christ on the cross, and it's not Christ risen from
the grave. It's Christ in you. Ain't that
what it says? The hope of glory. Those who
know Him, know Him within. Know Him within. He's one with
them. And their lives changed. It changed. It'll never be what it was. It's
not what it's going to be. Don't get that idea. Paul said,
I haven't arrived yet. But bless God, I see the mark.
I'm pressing toward the mark. I've had my eyes opened. I've
had my heart transplanted. I've got a new heart. Ain't that
what he said? He said, there'll be my people and I'll be their
God. That's that covenant of grace. Christ in you. We are His workmanship. You know,
everybody knows that scripture, by grace are you saved, don't
they? Arminians know that. Free wheelers know that. By grace
are you saved through faith. That not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Not of work, lest any man should
boast. What's it say after that? For we are His workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them." That's Christ in you. Christ in you. A life-changing
revelation. A living hope. That's what Peter
called it. A living hope. Fix my life. Fix my my thoughts, and my heart,
and the way I live, and what I'm going to do, and my decisions,
and my work, and my wife, and my kids. It fits everything.
Because it's in here, not up here. Now, it goes in up here. That's what we're doing here
this morning. It's going in up here. Some of it. But it's got to get down here.
And only the Spirit of God can do that. May He be pleased to
do that for us all this morning.