Providentially, that word simply
means by the will and purpose of God. We meet here again today
and we meet here to worship, praise, and proclaim the Son
of God, the Savior of God's people, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we've
not come here today to simply socialize, even though we do.
We do socialize. You see, people that love God
love God's people, and they enjoy each other's company and fellowship.
And I tell folks often that one of the things I love so dearly
about this church is that when church is over, people seem to
hang around and talk to one another and fellowship. And that's a
sign that God's done something for a believer because John 3
forward tells us that we know we've passed from death to life
by our love for our brothers and sisters. But friends, we've
not come here today because it's the right thing to do. or because
we feel obligated to come even though it is the right thing
to do and even though we should feel obligated considering what
God himself has done for sinners. But that's not the reason that
we meet together here twice a week. We've not come here today for
the sole purpose of fulfilling a duty or to try to work a work
of righteousness. It's not a duty. It's a privilege,
it's an honor to come into the house of the Lord and hear Christ,
who is our righteousness, proclaim. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go into the house of the Lord. And even though this
building has no spiritual significance, we're God's people. It's the
house of the Lord. We do not come, friends, so that
we or our children can be entertained. We don't have Sunday school classes
for the youngsters to occupy and to entertain them or to babysit
them. That's not the purpose of having
our Sunday school classes. We spend that time to teach them
of Christ at an early age. I went to Sunday school most
of all, most all my young life. And it seemed like all we did
was a craft or learn a little song about Zacchaeus or somebody. But they never took the time
to try to teach me Christ and Him crucified in a way that I
could understand it. To neglect the teaching and preaching
of Christ according to the Scriptures, even to our youngsters, is a
travesty. People ask, what does your church
have for the kids? I wish I had a dollar for every
time somebody said that to me. I could take all of you out to
lunch today. What do you have for the kids? We have the message
of life. We have the gospel of Christ. And I have no doubt that that's
what's being taught over in those two little Sunday school classes
that we have each Sunday morning. No, we're not here to entertain.
When God delivered his people out of Egyptian bondage, you
know the last act of judgment and mercy that caused Pharaoh
to let God's people go was the Passover. Would you care to just
take a moment and turn to Exodus chapter 12 with me? I think this
is well worth looking at, especially in conjunction with the question
that people ask, what do you have for the children? We have
that one thing needful. Growing up and learning how to
sing Zacchaeus was a wee little man, not going to save anybody.
Look at verse 23 of Exodus, chapter 12. Verse 23. Moses says, For the LORD will
pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he seeth the blood upon
the lintel and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over
the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto
your houses to smite you. Now you remember the story how
the blood which represents Christ and Christ alone was put over
the door and lentils the two side posts of the door. And when
the destroyer came, he passed over that house. Oh, what a picture
of Christ that is. In verse 24, And you shall observe
this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. And it shall come to pass when
you come to the land which the Lord will give you according
as He hath promised, that you shall keep this service." And
notice verse 26, "...and it shall come to pass when your children
will say unto you, What mean ye by this service?" What mean
you by this service? That you shall say it is the
sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. who passed over the houses of
the children of Israel and Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and
delivered our houses." Friends, Christ is our Passover. For even Christ, our Passover,
is sacrifice for us. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5-7.
And we're observing the Passover every single time we meet and
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His blood
that covers the sinner's sin. And when God sees the blood of
Christ shed and covering His people, He passes over them in
mercy. Those who are found without this
covering of blood, the blood shed by the holy and righteous
sacrificial lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, will die as the uncovered
and the unbelieving Egyptians did. Do you have this covering. Moses wrote, if children ask
what is meant by this service, and I've heard young children
say, Mommy or Daddy, why do we go to church? Better be ready
to tell them. It's to glorify, worship, and
proclaim Christ, our Passover, who passes over all his people
because of the blood that he shed for them. Matter of fact,
we shouldn't wait for them to ask. We should start in an early
age to tell them about the things of Christ. Ephesians 6, 4, Paul
says, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Friends, we meet here this morning
to preach Christ and Him crucified and to glorify Him. He's glorified. God is glorified and Christ is
glorified in the preaching of the gospel. We're not going to
stand up here and tell people how to live, how to be a better
this, better that. Only one thing will do that,
and that's to fall intimately and deeply in love with the man,
Christ Jesus, the God man, Christ Jesus. We meet to proclaim and
hear again the wonderful story of how God became a man and died
in the place of undeserving, wretched sinners. And if you
want to hear more than that, I've got bad news for you. But
if you see that that's what you need, you'll thank God for the
message each and every time you hear it. You see, to meet for
any other reason is to meet in vain. To meet for any other reason
will not profit our soul a thing. It will profit you nothing. Proverbs 10.2 says, Treasures
of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth
from death. In the Gospel of Mark, chapter
8, verse 36, the Lord asks this question, For what shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? You're here today by divine purpose. You say, well, no, I got up this
morning and got dressed and came by the determined counsel and
foreknowledge of God. You're not here by mistake. God
doesn't make mistakes. God doesn't make plans. He purposes. And that's why you're here, divine
purpose. And I'm going to tell you this
before I get into the text. To walk out these doors today
without being told the truth about yourself, about the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is God, I might add, and what He's done for sinners,
is my responsibility. I don't make any apologies for
what I'm about to say. I endeavor to proclaim to you
what these scriptures teach. They're the words of life, my
friends. It's my responsibility and for you to walk out these
doors without Christ is possibly your condemnation. What do you
think of Christ? I ask that often. That's a question
and it's a matter of life and death. And yet, friends, unless
God shows you, unless He shows you the urgency of the question
and of the matter, you'll never, ever see it. Unless God shows
you, you'll continue to go on day after day and never see your
need of Him. God has to show it to you. God
has to reveal it to you. Now some of you have heard the
truth proclaimed many times, some of you for many years, and
yet you remain unmoved. You seem happy to put it off
another day, and yet today may be your last. I know nobody likes
to think about that. But how many people woke up this
morning who will not see the sunset this evening? You look
in the obituaries tomorrow and you'll see. You'll see. What about today? What about
right now? 2 Corinthians 16 says, Behold,
now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Today. Today. Right now. Right now. You're not promised
tomorrow. While it is today, Hebrews 3.15
says, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Hebrews
4.7, again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, today,
after so long a time as it is said, today if you will hear
His voice, harden not your hearts. Oh friends, if the Lord speaks
to your heart this morning by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
don't harden your hearts. Don't harden your heart. With
all that said, if you'll turn back to me to the passage in
2 Timothy chapter 1, I'm going to be very brief, but I hope
to be simple and clear. Verse 12 will be my text. Paul writes, For the witch calls,
I also suffer. these things. He had just said
in the previous verse that he had been appointed a preacher,
an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. And friends, I'm
going to tell you, he suffered many things. Many things. He says, nevertheless, I'm not
ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day. You know, during Paul's time
of preaching the gospel, we studied this not long ago in another
lesson, Paul had been whipped five different times, 39 lashes. He'd been beaten with rods. I'm not sure what those rods
were, but they couldn't have been comfortable to be beaten
with them. He'd been shipwrecked. He had
spent a night and a day in the sea. He had been before the courts
and the judicial leaders of that time many times and had been
thrown in prison. He's in prison now as he writes
these encouraging words. Isn't that amazing? He'd been
exposed to the elements. He'd been in cold and in heat
and every kind of weather. He suffered many things for the
sake of the gospel. So many that really time won't
allow us to mention them all. But in spite of all these things,
he says, nevertheless. You know, what a wonderful word
that is. serving our Lord is never the
less. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed.
Paul was never ashamed of the gospel and the truths of it.
With all the things that he suffered, he continued on and on and on
to own it and to confess it and to constantly preach it boldly
everywhere he went. We're safe behind these walls
here today. We live in a country that allows
us to freely worship as we please. But in his day, men like he once
was, Saul, would kill you, have you stoned, thrown in prison,
and throw away the key for doing what we are able to do so freely
today. Oh, I'm telling you, this was
a dangerous occupation, if you want to call it that. But none
of these things moved him. None of these things kept him
from preaching and serving his God, his Master, his Lord. And serving our God, friends,
is nevertheless. Nevertheless. Now actually, you
may find it interesting to know that that word nevertheless gives
a pretty good definition of the Gospel. What it means is, in
spite of. In spite of. Nevertheless. In
spite of. God saved sinners in spite of
them. That's exactly what grace means.
In spite of us. It's undeserved. It's unmerited. By anything in or of us, God
saved me in spite of me. I remember when Brother Walter
Groover was here last Thanksgiving. I asked him, how are things going
in Mexico? And he said these words, they're
going great in spite of me. He meant that. They're going
great in spite of me. You know why? God's on the throne.
And he works all things after the counsel of his own will.
In spite of us. Proverbs 19.21 says there are
many devices, many purposes, many intentions in a man's heart.
Nevertheless, in spite of the evil man's heart, the counsel
of the Lord shall stand. So again, we read, for which
cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed.
In spite of me, all the things that I suffer, I'm not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day." Now,
I want to quickly show you three things from this verse which
are the very articles or foundation of faith. They're very simple. Knowledge, belief, and Camille. I think each and every one of
you know what those words mean. You cannot believe or trust in
someone that you do not know. That's a very logical thing. A man walks up to you on the
street, how can you trust him? You don't know him. You cannot
believe or trust in someone that you do not know. And you cannot
commit, trust, or have confidence in someone that you do not believe.
You can't believe in someone you don't know and you can't
commit anything to someone that you don't believe. First point,
for I know whom. I know whom. And friends, I know
I say it often and I hope that you never grow tired of hearing
it. Salvation is in a person. It's in a whom. The words before
us here do not say, I know what. Do they? Do they say, I know
what I believe? No. Salvation has nothing to
do with what you know and everything to do with who you know. I know whom. Christ said in John
17, 3, and this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. That's eternal
life. Knowing Him. Eternal life is
to know the only true God and Jesus Christ who God sent to
die in the place of chosen, yet wretched sinners. A sinner will
never be saved by knowing some facts about Him. There are many
in churches and even out of churches that don't go to church. Many
men and women who go to church and don't go to church that know
a lot of things about Jesus. And I know that you know that,
but they don't know Him as Christ. They don't know Him as Lord and
Savior. And you can know facts, truths,
plural. and not know the truth. For the
truth is in a person, and that person is Christ. You can say
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God all you want. And if you
don't know Him as your Lord and your Savior, you'll die in your
sin. I'm trying to be as serious as
I can, friends. You can know, I should say, that
He was born of a virgin. And they know facts like that
He healed the sick and He raised the dead, and He fed thousands
with a few loaves of fish. But friends, if He don't feed
you, if He don't heal you, and if He don't raise you from the
dead, you'll die in your sins. To know facts about Him will
not save you. It's to know Him. I know whom.
I know whom. I believe. How can a man testify
or be a witness to something that he's not seen or known?
You can't be a witness to an accident if you didn't see it.
How can a man believe on Christ if he doesn't know Him? It takes
a divine revelation from God the Holy Spirit to have faith
in Christ. You can believe that He died
on the cross. There's people all over this world that say,
oh, I believe Jesus died on the cross, and I believe that He
rose again the third day. But unless God shows you that
He died and rose for you, you'll still perish under His
wrath. I'm telling you the truth now. To know facts about Him
is not going to get the job done. You must know Him. Personally. Personally. You see, those who
know Him and believe on Him, the more they know Him, the more
they believe on Him. Those who spiritually and savingly
know Christ have seen the glories of His person. the fullness of
His grace, and they approve of Him as their Savior. For He alone is all they need
and all that a thrice holy God requires." Now, let me see if
I can illustrate this to you. There's a two-story house and
it's on fire. And in haste, the father gets
his family out of the house and accounts for each member of his
family. Then he realizes that his five-year-old
son is still in the burning house. Time's running out. The house
is burning quickly. The fire department hadn't arrived
yet. There's no time to go find a
ladder and put it up for the young man is screaming out the
second story window. So the brave father stands below
with outstretched arms and he tells his young son to jump.
Now the young boy sees and he hears his father, and he has
no doubt that his dad can catch him. The boy knows that his father
has the ability to catch him. He knows that he himself can
fit through the window. The window's not too small for
him to get through. He knows. Those are facts that
he's pretty sure of. He's pretty sure his dad can
catch him, and he's pretty sure he can fit out the window. But
do you know when he really, really knows and believes in and on
his Father to save him? It's when he jumps. It's when
he jumps. The boy jumps, the Father catches
him, and he's saved. And I'm sure that's an experience
that he'll talk about all the days of his life. However, now
listen, it was not the experience that's saved It wasn't his willingness
to jump that saved him. It's not of him that willeth,
him that runneth, or him that jumpeth. We'll just throw that
in. It wasn't his willingness to jump that saved him. And even
though his need was desperate, if he didn't get out that window,
he was going to die and burn and perish. And even though his
need was desperate and he desired to be rescued, that was not what
saved him, was it? His deliverance is not in the
jumping. So what saved him then? Well, I think the question ought
to be, is who saved him? Who saved him? His father. His father saved him. He knew,
believed, and trusted and was fully persuaded that his father
could catch him, but he wasn't saved until his father did catch
him. You see what I'm getting at?
This is the difference in believing some facts about Christ and believing
in and on Him. There are many, many, many, many
who believe mere facts. but only those whom God shows
their desperate need, causes them to see that they're about
to burn. Those that jump into the arms of Christ, for God only
makes the difference and causes their faith to be on Him, and
Him alone. Saving faith, dear friends, is
not just knowing the doctrines of Christ. It's not just knowing
something about election, and predestination, and particular
redemption, and irresistible grace, and persevering the same.
It's to know Him. I know whom. The second point
is believing. I know whom I have believed.
To believe in Christ is to first know Him, who He is, what He's
done for chosen sinners. We believe that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's what a child of God
believes and he's amazed at that. He didn't straighten up and fly
right first and then God saved him. God saved him while he was
yet a sinner, undeserving, hell-bound, good for nothing. That's why
it's grace. That's why it's mercy. And that's
why Paul immediately, after saying, I know whom I have believed,
goes on to say, and am persuaded. Now, I know that a lot of places
sing that song, almost persuaded. That's not what this word means.
Persuaded means convinced. It means confident in what you
believe. I'm confident in this. I'm convinced. A believer has many doubts when
it's concerning themselves. But a believer has no doubt when
it comes to trusting their souls to their Redeemer. Oh, that's
to be in good hands, isn't it? That's to be in good hands. Why? You say, why, Brother David?
Is that so? Because they know Him. They know
Him. They've been taught of God. They
know that to have Him is to have life. That's what John says on
the front of our bulletins every Sunday. He that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. That's
pretty simple, isn't it? That's pretty direct. Now you
either believe it or you don't. And if you believe it, it's because
God revealed it to you. God's taught us. God's shown
us. And Christ is who God declares
Him to be. He's the perfectly righteous
and holy Savior that shed His blood for His people. God shed
His blood for chosen sinners. Don't try to figure it out or
understand it, friends. Just bow to it and believe it. God give you the grace to do
so. I don't have any faith in myself. I'll just be honest with
you. There are men that have a lot of faith in themselves
and in their abilities. When it comes to this thing called
salvation, I have no faith in myself. But I have full confidence. I've been completely persuaded. I have full assurance, beyond
a shadow of a doubt, that Christ was made to be sin for me. He
who knew no sin, that I might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. I stand before you this morning
righteous and holy as Christ Himself is. Not because of works
of righteousness that I've done, but that He, who knew no sin,
made sin for me. That's substitution. That's the
gospel. That's the only message worth
bringing. That's the only message worth
hearing. What do you have for your children? Life. Life and
a look at the Savior. That's all we have. And we're
not busting over with young folks. People want to be entertained.
They want to be entertained. They want spiritual babysitters. Friends, I believe because I
know in whom salvation is found. And I'm persuaded because God
made me to differ. God caused me to believe it.
I'm persuaded, what? That He's able. And know what
it says? I'm persuaded that He's able.
Do you know that God is able? He's able to save to the uttermost.
That's what Hebrews 7.25 said. Our God is able to do anything
and everything. That's what Job 42 verse 2 says. I know that thou canst do everything. Committal. Now you cannot commit
anything to someone that you don't know or believe. Can you? Can you commit something precious
to you to a person you don't know? You can't believe someone
you don't know and you sure can't commit something to someone that
you can't believe. Well, you say, well, what have
you committed to him? My soul. My soul. Why have you committed your soul
to him? He can't fail. It's finished. It's accomplished. Salvation is mine. Not by works
that I do. Not by anything in me, but in
the One whom I know and have believed and am persuaded. I'm persuaded what? He's able.
He's able. I know that. I know that.