If you'd like to, turn over to
2 Timothy, Chapter 1. 2 Timothy, Chapter 1. This is probably
a familiar passage of scripture to most of us in the room. The Apostle Paul writes this
epistle when he's writing to a man named Timothy. Timothy
is relatively young. I don't know how old he is. Very
likely heard the gospel under Paul. And Timothy is a preacher. And Paul is his mentor. So he's
mentoring Timothy through this thing he's doing. And Paul writes
to him today because he's got an issue. Timothy does. He's
sorrowful and he's sad. He is scared and he is timid. And this is not the fear of God
which is the beginning of wisdom. This is the fear of men. This
is a fleshly fear. He is afraid to confess the Lord
Jesus Christ amongst men because he's afraid of what he will lose.
He will be shunned. He will be revolted against,
maybe even physically harmed. Let me show you what I'm talking
about here. We'll read some excerpts. Look at verse 4. Paul says, greatly desiring to
see thee, being mindful of thy tears. He's sad. And what's he
sad about? What it likely is this, Paul's
in Roman captivity right now. So he's under Roman captivity,
he's living in a hired house, and Timothy knows exactly why
he's there. He's there because he was preaching the gospel.
So Timothy sees this, his mentor, this one he learned the gospel
from, the one he's seen the Lord has used so mightily to expound
the gospel, right now he's under captivity and Timothy's thinking,
that's probably going to happen to me next. And if it wasn't
that, then insert any of the things in our lives that bring
us sorrow. Illness, family problems, financial issues, Loss, all those
things, just dealing with being a sinner. Uncertainty, unbelief,
all those things. The point is this man is very
sad and he's very discouraged right now. Now, look at verse
eight. Paul tells him, be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Not as only is he sorrowful,
but he is ashamed in some way. He is prone to shame over the
gospel. Why? Well, because he has learned
what we will all learn at some point along this journey is that
this world, the people of this world, the natural world, is
no friend of grace whatsoever. Seemingly kind people who seem
very nice, as soon as you preach the Christ of the scriptures
to them, that sovereign one, that holy one, that one who holds
all men in the palm of his hand and can save and damn according
to his good pleasure, you preach him, all of a sudden people become
very hostile, very hostile towards you. And he learned that, and
it caused him to be timid, to be sheepish in some way. And
it's not just relegated to this chapter. Look in chapter 2. Look
at verse 3. It says, Thou therefore endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, no man that woreth
entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please
him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Why is he telling
him this? Don't entangle yourself with
the affairs of this life. Because he entangled himself
in the affairs of this life. That's why Paul writes that to
him. The same way you and I do. I'm not saying we don't have
responsibilities here, folks. Don't misunderstand me. That's not
what Paul is saying either. Entangling yourself in the things of this
life, what that talks about is fearing men more than you fear
God. be more concerned about what
men think about you than what God thinks about you. This man's
in a straight right here. He's sorrowful. He's ashamed
and timid. He's entangled himself in the
things of this life. You know anybody like that? Paul did. In fact, we all do. If you go all the way back to
Acts chapter 21, we won't turn there. Paul goes to the church
in Jerusalem, to James' church. And he's dealing with those people
down there. And James goes to him and he says, Paul, my congregants,
they got a bone to pick with you. They think you're anti-law.
You have no respect for the law of Moses. So Paul, here's what
you need to do. We got four boys that got a vow
on them. They're going to take the vow of Nazarite. And they're
in the purification process. You go down and you purify yourself
with them, engage in this law right here. And then after the
purification is over, we'll offer blood sacrifices according to
the law. A blood sacrifice. What's the
problem? Christ has already died. He rather
has already risen again. The law is over. It is put away. It is complete in Christ. What
should his answer have been? He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. The same thing Paul
said to the church in Rome, but that's not what he did. He agreed. He went down there and right
before they could offer that blood sacrifice, when that purification
was over, the Lord intervened and had Paul arrested so he couldn't
do that. Probably one of the greatest mercies that man was
ever shown in this life. We are all prone to this right here,
this thing of being timid, being sheepish, being sorrowful, being
scared. We're all prone to it. But I
tell you what, Lord put Paul through that so that when he
writes this to Timothy, what you'll notice is he never berates
Timothy once. He doesn't browbeat him. He's
not hard on him at all. He preaches to him. In fact,
he gives him instruction, three points of instruction. And every
single time he gives a point of instruction, he never follows
it up with a consequence. He only follows it up with an
encouragement in the gospel. I think I can learn something
about that. All right, look at verse 1. Let's start there. Paul opens, he says, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the
promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. Now, yes, this
is a letter to a dear friend. Paul will go on to call him his
beloved son in the next verse. This is a letter from Paul to
his friend. But I have a sneaking suspicion
that Paul knew exactly what he was doing here. He was writing
a scripture under divine inspiration of God. Here's why I think that. He uses that phrase, according
to. You know what that means? According to, it means about.
It means in reference to. It means, hey, this writing,
this is what it's all about. Well, what's this writing about?
It's about the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. This passage of scripture is
doing the same thing every other passage of scripture does in
the scripture. It preaches the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what a title for the gospel. I title, The Promise of Life
that is in Christ Jesus. A promise made by God. God who
cannot lie and God who cannot fail. Made to who? To sinners. Who can do absolutely nothing.
You have a promise and here's the promise you have from God.
That one who cannot lie and who cannot fail, he'll live. You
currently have a life. Your life is hidden Christ. You
have a perfect, holy, and righteous life before God the Father, that
one who demands just that, and it's in Christ Jesus, and you'll
live. You will never taste eternal
death because He, Christ, already tasted it for you. That's the
gospel right there. The promise of life that is in
Christ Jesus. Yeah, I'm writing to Timothy,
and I want to encourage Timothy, and I want to give Timothy some
instruction. This is about Jesus Christ and Him saving His people,
just like every other passage of Scripture. Look at verse 2.
He says to Timothy, that's who I'm writing to, my dearly beloved
son, listen to this, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord. Now consider the context again.
Paul's not writing because everything is hunky-dory and everything
is okay. He's writing to Timothy because there's a problem. He's
being a coward. He's scared. He's worried. He's full of unbelief. What he doesn't say is this,
he says, unto you, Timothy, I hope chastisement, trial, and tribulation. Hope the Lord comes down there
and beats you over the head and beats this out of you. That's
not what he says. In graciousness, because he knows
exactly what Timothy is going through, he says, here's what
I hope for you, Timothy, from God to you, grace. Yes, what you're doing is wrong.
You're wrong, I'm wrong. same thing He did for me, I hope
He does for you, that He deals with you in complete and utter
kindness, not for any reason in you, but for Christ's sake.
Despite everything you've done, despite the direction you're
going, in all things, that He would deal with you on the grounds
of pure grace, which is doing, having favor unto someone for
no reason in them whatsoever. That's what I need in salvation,
that's what I need in this life too, just like Timothy. that
the Lord would be merciful to you, and for Christ's sake, He
would pity you, and He would withhold from you what you do
deserve, and you would have peace. Peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, and peace of mind, that the Lord would deliver you
from this, this sorrowful attitude, this weak constitution, that
He would deliver you from all this. And look at this, look
at verse 3. This gets very interesting. Listen to the wording here, he
says, I thank God, whom I serve for my forefathers with pure
conscience, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in
my prayers night and day. Now, no doubt, no doubt, Paul
gave thanks for Timothy. He gave thanks for the friendship
he had with Timothy. He gave thanks for everything
the Lord done for Timothy. That's not what he says here. He says,
I thank God that he brought you, Timothy, into my remembrance
and caused me to pray for you. And he says that with a sense
of excitement. I thank God. This is fantastic. This is excellent
news. The Lord has caused me, put in my heart, to pray for
you, Timothy. Why would he say that? I'll read
it to you. This is James 5.16. It says,
confess your faults one to another, which means be genuine. Don't
confess your sins to one another, just be genuine with one another.
Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that
you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. What's the first application
of that? Who's the righteous man? That's Jesus Christ the
righteous. Everybody he prays for as their
great high priest, he prays that they would be healed, that they
would be accepted by the Father, led into the kingdom. Everybody
he represents, everybody he intercedes for, Oh, they are healed. He has that power with his father
through his cross, through his obedience. Everything he asks
of his father, everything he demands, he gets every single
time. If that man, that God man, the
Lord Jesus Christ prays for you, you will be healed. It availeth
much. And it also means exactly what
it says. That the fervent prayer of a
righteous man, Paul's a righteous man. He's righteous in Jesus
Christ. fervent sincere prayer of a righteous man for another
one it avails much Much we should be as encouraged to pray for
one another as Paul is for Timothy here He says I thank God for
this because this prayer here because the Lord has caused me
to do this He has put it on my heart. He's brought Timothy in
my remembrance It's going to avail much and I'll tell you
exactly what the much is whatever is best. I And I am so thankful
for that. Because here's the thing, I have
all kinds of preconceived notions and great ideas about what I
need. And great ideas about what I think you need. But I have
absolutely no idea what I need and what you need. But I am willing
to do this. I'm willing to bring your name
before the Lord and leave it there. and simply trust Him that
what He's going to do, it's going to be what's absolutely best
for you, me, and everybody else because He is God and He can
do no wrong. He said, it avails much. I thank
God, Timothy, that He has caused me to pray for you because the
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The Lord is
going to do something for this man. He has brought him to my
remembrance and we should deal with that. We should have that
same excitement when the Lord brings it to your remembrance
to pray for someone. He is going to do something for
that person. That fervent prayer, it avails much. There is much
power in prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look at this,
verse 4. Paul says, greatly desiring to
see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with
joy when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in
thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother
Eunice, and I am persuaded that is in thee also. He says, I'm
mindful of your tears. I'm mindful of your sorrow. Not,
hey, quit acting like a baby. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.
Tired of hearing you whine. I'm mindful of your tears. You
hurt, I hurt. We're part of the same body.
I'm mindful of them. And you may be sorrowful right
now, but I'm not. I'm joyful, and it's for this
reason, because I perceive that in you is unfeigned faith. Know what that means? Real faith. God-given faith. Faith that is
not pretending. Faith that is not put on. Faith
that is absolutely sincere. It is exactly what it is. I perceive in you, Timothy, unfeigned
faith. You know what that means, Timothy?
For faith is the substance of things hoped for. It is the evidence
of things not seen. You know what that means, Timothy?
Because you look to the Lord Jesus Christ only, because sincerely,
he is all you have. He is your only hope. That is
the very evidence the Lord has saved you. You're one for whom
he died. You are slated in the eternities
as a child of God, and that cannot be changed. And if you're looking
for another blessing, Timothy, If this wasn't enough for you,
he did the same thing for your mother. He did the same thing
for your grandmother. And I could go on and on, Timothy.
We do this, don't we? Things are so bad. Things are
so sad. Everything's going in the wrong direction. But if I
have this unfamed faith, this gift of God, what does that mean?
That means I am a child of God. That means, past tense, I have
been saved. He died for me. It's the best
news I've ever heard. The question is this. What is
unfeigned faith? Because if there's unfeigned
faith, there's feigned faith. There's fake faith, right? Something
that masquerades as faith. What is unfeigned faith? Because
I want unfeigned faith. I want that sincere, real faith
that is the gift of God. Do I have that? Let me show you
something. Turn over to 1 Timothy 1. If we want to understand unfeigned
faith, we have to understand feigned faith. And Paul's going
to give us a definition of it here. 1 Timothy 1, look at verse 5. Now the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and
faith unfeigned. Now what he will say after this
is a definition of feigned faith. From which some having swerved.
have turned aside under vain janglings, empty words that mean
absolutely nothing. Desiring to be teachers of the,
what's that word? Law. Understanding neither what
they say nor whereof they affirm. Not really understanding what
exactly they're putting their confidence in. That's what that
means. In faint faith, this, we know this, somewhere crept
in is the law. What's law? It's what I do. It
is a divided confidence. Yeah, I'm confident that the
Lord Jesus Christ did his part for me, but I'm also confident
that whatever the thing I think I need to do is, I did that too. It is a divided confidence. Law
has crept in there somewhere, and the confidence is divided,
not all in Christ, in Christ and something else. That's salvation
by works. If it's of works at all, if it's
of law at all, it is salvation by works. That means you are
approaching the Lord based on what I do. Judge me according
to what I've done, which means you are a debtor to do the whole
law. In feigned faith, the law has
always crept in there somewhere, and the confidence is misplaced.
It's Christ and something else. Now, let's look at Paul's definition
of unfeigned faith. It's in our text. Go back there. Look at verse 12 of your text,
2 Timothy 1. This is Paul's definition of unfeigned faith. Notice how
singular it is. For the witch calls, I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed, singularly, one person, and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day. I know whom I have believed.
This is not a divided confidence. This confidence is in not a thing.
It's in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know him. I know him as he is revealed
in this word, how he's revealed in the preaching of his true
gospel, that sovereign one, that holy one, that one that is great
in mercy and grace and delights to show it, but will by no means
clear the guilty in his just character. I know him as he's
revealed in his word. And I wouldn't change him if
I could. He's exactly who I need. And someone may be asking, do
I know him? Do I really know him? Everybody who knows him
says the exact same thing. This is what's on their mind
and on their heart. I'm persuaded he's able. Everybody who knows
him says that about him. I am persuaded that he cannot
fail. What can't God do? He can't lie,
he can't sin, and he cannot fail. If he purposes, he must do. He would cease to be God, if
that was the case. He cannot fail. I am persuaded
that he is able to do what, Paul? To keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day. Unfeigned. Sincere. Not pretending. I'm a sinner. I'm not joking. I'm not pretending. And I recognize we just see the
scratched surface right there. What I know this, I can say this
with David on his deathbed. My house is not so with God.
I'm not right with God, that holy God, that righteous God,
that one that demands perfection. My house is not so with God. I'm not pretending. I'm not joking.
The stakes are too high. I'm in the hands of a sovereign,
one who demands perfection. I'm not right with God. But I'm
content, absolutely content, to hand the entirety of my salvation
and put it in his arms. and drop down on his feet, and
take my hands off, and simply and utterly trust him to do everything. And I mean everything. Not me
doing anything along the way. Him doing absolutely everything
that is necessary to save me. If it is left up to me in any
way, it's no good. I'll go to hell. But if he does
it all, every single bit of it, I'll be saved. I'm content to
leave it there. Sincerely, really. He's all I've
got. My only hope is that Christ died
for me. I'll tell you what, if that's the way you feel, that's
where your confidence is, that singular confidence in one, you
have unfeigned faith. That means the Lord saved you.
You sit here right now. We're not on a journey. Don't
understand. We're at the destination. The Lord's given you this faith.
He has saved you. You have an unfeigned faith. Now, look at this. Let's look
at Paul's first point of instruction to Timothy. Look at verse six. He says, Wherefore, I put thee
in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is
in thee by the putting on of my hands. Fan the flames, stir
up the gift. Everything we have spiritually,
everything we have totally, is the gift of God. But especially
this thing of salvation. Listen to this. This is Romans
6.23. It says, "...for the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." It's
a gift. which means it can't be earned. It means there are
no entitlements to it whatsoever. It can only be freely given and
freely received, a gift. And everything that spurns from
this eternal life, these things that we have, faith, love, repentance
from dead works, those are all gifts from God. We didn't come
about that naturally. It's simply and utterly a gift.
But the scripture speaks of particular gifts particular believers have. I was reading this, let me read
the scripture to you. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 7, he says,
You know what that means? means everyone who has this unfeigned
faith. You have a particular gift of
God. And not everybody has the same gifts. We have everything
in measure. You have a particular gift of God. Now let's look at
some of these. Turn over to Romans chapter 12. Paul talks about some of these
gifts here in Romans 12. Look at verse 6. Romans 12 verse 6 he says, having
then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to
us. We don't all have the same gifts. Whether prophecy, which
is preaching. Let us prophesy according to
the proportion of faith. Or ministry, being a servant. We're all called
upon to be servants one to another. let us wait on our ministering.
Or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth who comforts
and encourages on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity, single-minded, not wanting anything in return.
He that ruleth, that has influence, with diligence. He that showeth
mercy with cheerfulness. If you're a believer, if you
have this unfeigned faith, and you say, well, I'm a nobody here.
That's not true at all. That's absolutely not true. You're
one for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died, number one. Let's just
leave that there for a second. You're one for whom the Father
gave his only begotten Son. But also this, we are all part
of the same body. Christ is the head, we are the
body, and we are members one of another. And each one of us
has a particular gift or gifts, and it's given for the edification
of the body, of the church. We would not be complete without
you." And this is what Paul says right here. He says, stir it
up. Fan those flames. You know what
that means? Do it. Do it with all your might. Do it with all your soul. Do
it for the good of the brethren. Do it for the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Whatever gift you have, use it for the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Timothy's particular gift
here is this. It's preaching. Preaching. And
Timothy is obviously in danger of letting this fire die out,
because Paul says, fan the flames, fan the flames, stir it up. Why? Why is Timothy in danger of letting
it die out? It's for this reason, because
he fears men. consequence of men not liking
his message, being angry at him. He might suffer loss, he might
suffer harm, whatever it may be, but he has a fear of men.
But I told you with every point of instruction Paul gives him,
he follows it up with an encouragement in the Gospel. Now, look at verse
7, here is the encouragement. Verse 7 of your text, I'm sorry. This is the encouragement, for
God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of
love and of a sound mind. What's the most common phrase
in scripture, do you know? It's fear not. He says, he has
not given us a spirit of fear. And yes that word spirit that
is the same word as Holy Spirit, and Spirit of the Lord and all
that, but that is not actually what he is talking about here. What he is saying
is this, David he is in good spirits today. He is of a strong
happy constitution. This person over here they are
in poor spirits today. What he is saying is the Lord has not
given us any reason to have a spirit of fear. He has given absolutely
no reason to be afraid. He says it over and over in His
Scriptures, fear not, fear not, fear not. Why not? Power, love,
and a sound mind. And this is in reference to sharing
the gospel, preaching the gospel. That's the reference to it, but
it applies to all things. Number one, power. Who has all power? Lord Jesus Christ has all power. He is the absolute sovereign.
He is the one who commands all things and does all things. He's
the first cause behind all things. And if anyone is perceived to
have any power, you know what that means? It means he loaned
it to him. He loaned some of his power to
them to accomplish his purpose. And as soon as that purpose is
accomplished, he's taken that power back and they are left
with none all over again. Keeping that in mind, why would
we ever fear man? What did David say? Remember
this 2 Samuel 16, Shimei came out to David. He was cursing
at him and throwing rocks at him. And Abishai said, David,
what are we doing? Let me go take his head off.
Here's what David said. Listen to this. David said, So
let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. He's not doing anything the Lord
didn't command him to do. I know exactly who's in control
of this right here. Why would we ever fear men in the first
place? Any power they're perceived to have, it's just from the Lord.
But also this. The Gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. This message we have of Christ
and Him crucified for sinners, this complete salvation, this
is how the Lord has chosen to save His people. We have a powerful
message, not that there is any power in the speaker whatsoever,
not any power in the mere words, the power of God to make it effectual
and call sinners from death unto life. Isn't that exciting? Isn't
it worth going out there? Absolutely it is. Of love. This
is what Paul said to the Romans in Romans 8.38, he says, If you
have this unfeigned faith that means you have the very love
of God upon you and nothing can separate that. No man can take
that from you, it is impossible. That will always be there. You've
been loved so much so that the father gave his only begotten
son, so much so that the son gave himself. Loved with an everlasting
love. Now, that love that you're given,
back to him. Exercise it by telling his story. Tell the story of his great victory.
His great victory over sin, over death, over hell. Tell that story
to others. Tell another beggar where you
got bread. Love men so much that you're
willing to tell them the truth. And finally this, of a sound
mind. That means a disciplined mind. Let me ask you if you've
ever felt this way, or anyone's ever said this to you. Nobody
thinks like you do. What you believe and who you
believe, nobody believes that. Nobody thinks that way. You're
right, they don't. The natural mind is enmity against
God. But folks, if we have this unfeigned
faith, Florida's breathed life into us, that means we're of
a sound mind, a chastised mind, a mind that has been brought
to repentance, it's been changed. We don't think about God the
way we used to. The world sees him as a weakling. The world
sees him as someone who is trying to get the job done but just
can't. He needs your help. We've been changed. We're of
a sound mind. We know exactly who he is now.
He's the one who always accomplishes his purposes every single time. Could I possibly be right and
everyone else be wrong? Yes, absolutely, because you're
of a sound mind. Now share what you know from
that sound mind. I thought this was a good point.
Paul is not advocating for us here to wrap a sign around our
neck that says, hey, let's talk religion, and then go fight with
every idiot out on the streets. That's not what he's talking
about. That's not what the encouragement is. It aligns with what Peter
says in 1 Peter 3.15. He says, but sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every
man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear. It's an encouragement to this,
folks, when the Lord opens that door, when someone comes and
asks and says, you're different, there's a hope in you, what is
it? Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of men, don't
be afraid of shunning, don't be afraid of harm, don't be afraid
of any of these things. This gospel, this Christ, He's
of power, and he's of love, and he's of a sound mind. Tell the
story. Now here's the second point of
instruction. Look at verse eight. Paul says, be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Timothy, don't be ashamed. Don't
be timid about sharing this gospel. I told you, every single time
he tells them, he gives them an instruction, he follows it
up with an encouragement. And I'll tell you what the encouragement
is in this one. It's that the gospel is just
that glorious. That the Christ for whom it speaks,
he is just that glorious. And in four verses, he's going
to preach the entirety of the gospel to us. I looked it up,
there are over 783,000 words in the King James Version of
the Bible between Genesis 1 and the end of Revelations. And they
are all summed up here in four verses. Only the wisdom of God
could do that. But He is going to expound to
us what the Gospel is and how glorious it really is. And the
point He is making here, Timothy, don't be ashamed of this because
it really is that glorious. So, look here, look at verse
9. Here is how He begins. Who hath saved us? There's the entire gospel in
four little words, just right there. Is there any divided confidence
in there? Are there any divided tasks in
there? Who? The person he was talking
about in the verse above that, God. God and his triune person,
the Father in divine election, Son in divine redemption, the
Holy Spirit in regeneration, God and his three persons confined
to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He hath, past tense,
we're not on a journey. The journey's over, we've arrived
at the destination. He by himself hath saved us. Big question there, who's the
us? Who does he speak to? Because if I'm an us, I leave
this place and I have nothing to worry about. Not ever again.
Am I an us? I'll give you three scriptures.
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. Ephesians 1.4. It's the elect,
those God the Father chose in Christ Jesus before the world
began unto salvation. We won't stop there. This is
Ephesians 1-9. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward? Who believe according to the
working of his mighty power. Who's the us? Everybody who believes
on Christ. Everybody whose confidence is
singular is just in him. That's all I've got is Christ.
That's who the us is. This is my favorite one though,
listen to this. This is 1 Peter 3, 18. For Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us, the unjust, to God. That's my favorite us right there,
the unjust. A guilty sinner deserving to
be sent to hell, deserving to be damned, standing in the hands
of a sovereign and a holy God. That's exactly who he died for. The unjust. For evil men and
women. Evil. Hope only in Christ, your
elect. That means he hath saved you. The entirety of the gospel in
four short words right there. But he doesn't stop. Go back
to reading verse nine again. Who hath 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. When did all this happen? Before
the world began. All the words are here, folks.
Before the world began, God had a purpose. Everything's by His
purpose. What was His purpose? What is
the purpose? Is to glorify Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to achieve the maximum glory for the Godhead in Christ. How's He gonna do that? Through
the salvation of a people, a particular people, those chosen before time
began. The Lord Jesus Christ would come
and do everything that was necessary and single-handedly accomplish
their salvation so that salvation is not of works, But what's the
other word that's in here? Of grace. Free, sheer, utter
grace. Do you need grace? Do you need
him to deal with you with favor, with kindness, completely and
utterly for Christ's sake, despite everything you are and everything
you've done? That's what I need. That means grace is for you.
by His grace." This all happened before the world began. He's
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That means before
there was a sinner, there was a Savior that was slain in the
mind and the heart of God. That means we have always been
eternally secure in Him. But that Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world had to be slain in time. Look at verse
10. 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.
That Lamb slain from the foundation of the world had to be manifest
in the flesh in time. What did He do through that manifestation
in the flesh? He abolished death. How did He
do that? Why does a man die? Sin, that's
the answer. By taking on the sins of his
people, burying them in his body, going to that cross, suffering
under the wrath of God, and putting those sins away. He abolished
death by abolishing the sins of his people. And now we have
the gospel. What does gospel mean? It means
good news. There's good news for sinners.
How's he gonna get that out? Look at verse 11. Whereunto I
am appointed a preacher, and an apostle and a teacher of the
Gentiles. How's this gospel gonna come
out? Through the foolishness of preaching. Hopefully what's
going on right now. I was thinking about this this
morning, what grandeur, what grandeur of this gospel, grandeur
of salvation free to sinners, people who don't deserve it,
who haven't earned it, free favor with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. The grandeur of all this, the magnificence of it, the wisdom
that it took And what lowly mechanism, just having a fool come up here
and tell you about it. But that's how he works, through the foolishness
of preaching. Everybody who he makes this message to, makes
this message effectual to, always responds the exact same way.
And we've already read it, but look at verse 12. It says, for
the witch calls, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm
not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day." He always ends up with the same thing when
he makes that message of that gospel effectual to a sinner.
I know him. I'm persuaded he's able. And
I'm putting everything in His hands. My hands are off right
there. That's what happens every single
time. Would you notice here, folks, where's faith in the end
of all... Where does faith fit in in all
this? It's at the end. It's at the very end. It's not,
well, I believe the Lord saved me. No, it's the end state of
things. The Lord saved me. That's why you believe the gospel.
Now, he's gonna make a big deal about that in a phrase he uses
here. It's in verse 9. says, who hath
saved us and called us with a holy calling. When Todd references
this, he always says the same thing and always appreciate it.
Which came first, the saving or the calling? He saved us. He saved us outside of our experience. And if it is outside of our experience,
it cannot be of works in any way, shape, or form. And then
after he saved us, he called us with a holy calling. Instead
of me making a mess of this, how about we look at an illustration?
Turn over to John chapter 11. Todd's been preaching a lot on
Lazarus recently, so we're all familiar with the story. Lazarus
is dead and the Lord has gone to his tomb under the purpose
of giving him life. That's what he's going to do.
I want you to look at the very first thing he does before he
calls that man and gives him life. John 11, look at verse
38. Jesus therefore again, groaning
in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay
upon it. Jesus said, take ye away the
stone, out. He comes to Lazarus where he's
at. What's Lazarus doing right now? He's dead. He's not doing anything. Lazarus
hasn't asked him to be there. He hasn't asked him to do anything
for him. He's dead. All this that's happening
right here, it is outside of his experience. He's dead. He's
not there. When the Lord gets there, he
encounters this, a separation. There's a stone covering that
tomb. There's a separation between
Lazarus and between God. And before he would call Lazarus,
before he would issue those words that would give him life, he
first had to remove the separation outside of Lazarus' experience. What was it that separated us
from our God? Our sin. Lord Jesus Christ bore
our sins in His body on the tree. He bled and died and He put those
sins away. And folks, when He was doing
that, we had no knowledge of it. Before we were ever born,
how long did we live in this life before the Lord preached
the gospel to us in power and turned the lights on? That whole
time leading up to it, we were in darkness, preferring darkness
over light. He was there for us. He was our
Lamb slain. Before we ever had any knowledge
of him, any love for him, any interest in him whatsoever, he'd
already done everything for us in eternity past and on his cross. Before he would call Lazarus,
he said, at separation, it's got to be removed. And then after
he removed the separation, what'd he do then? Now Lazarus gets
involved. Now it's according to his experience.
A call comes out, a call that is accompanied by life. Lazarus,
come forth. And what did he do? He did what
everybody who has life does. He came to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Keep this in mind. I thought this was good. I heard
this somewhere. Life always comes back to its source. I'll say
it again. Life always comes back to its
source. He gave him life. And what did
Lazarus do? He came to Christ. Covered in
grave clothes with a napkin on his face, stumbling like a baby
deer. And that's how we come into this spiritual world, stumbling
like a baby deer, just given life. By the grace of God, he
came to him, but he had no choice and he wanted no other choice
because he was given life. With this thing of salvation,
folks, it was done before the world ever began. It was done
on the cross before we ever had any interest in him. He had the
greatest interest in us. Now go back to your text. Let's
look at the last point of instruction. Look at verse 13 of 2 Timothy
1. It says, Hold fast the form of sound
words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which
is in Christ Jesus, that good thing which was committed unto
thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. He told
Timothy, Don't be afraid. Stir up the
gift. Stir up the gift. Spread this gospel. Don't be
afraid. You never have a reason to be afraid. Two, he told him
this, don't be ashamed. The gospel is just that glorious.
It's the only gospel that could save you, Timothy. Don't be ashamed
of that gospel. Don't be ashamed of the people
of that gospel. Finally, he tells him this, hold
fast the form of sound words. All these words I've given you
talk about this salvation completed by the God-man, Jesus Christ,
before the world ever began. Salvation complete and clear
for sinners. Hold fast to that and don't let
that go. And here's a scripture I thought
of. This is Colossians 1, 21 through
23. and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unapprovable in his sight, if, if you continue
in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel. I'll tell you this, if my preservation
And my endurance in this gospel is based on me mustering the
strength and me mustering the will and all that. There's no
reason for me to be here right now. Might as well leave. But
it's not. In fact, it said it in our text.
Look at verse 14 again. He says, that good thing which
was committed unto thee keep, how? How shall I keep it? By
the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. Yeah, every member of
the elect. Everybody Christ died for. We
are, we're gonna hold on to this gospel all the way to the end. Why? Because we're strong, because
we're capable, because we have such power. No, by the Holy Ghost
that dwelleth in us, by the power of God, by the power of Christ.
You know what that means? When you look at this, I told
you the whole gospel is right here. That means salvation truly is
of the Lord. It's all his work. And he's done
it all. Let's leave it there, huh?