Let's turn back to 2 Timothy
chapter 1. I hope you all remember us in prayer
with regard to Vacation Bible School this week. I trust the
Lord will bless this to our young people. And I want to remind
you, by the end of the summer, I hope we can have an offering
for a truck for the Groovers. His truck has over 200,000 miles
on it, and they're going to be here in September, and I'd like
for us to be able to help in getting them a new vehicle at
that time. Verse 8, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God." I've entitled this message Ashamed of the Gospel. Paul says to Timothy, Be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Now his testimony is clearly
brought out in verses 8 through 12 and he says don't you be ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. In Mark chapter 8 verse 38 the
Lord said whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me. and of my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation of him also shall the son of man be
ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the
holy angels. Now look what Paul said in the
previous verse, verse 7, for God has not given us the spirit
of fear or cowardice, the fear of man, but of power and of love
and of a sound mind. Look in verse 6, the verse before
that. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that you stir up
the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Fan the flame. I see in this
passage of scripture that Timothy was in danger of letting this
flame go out. Why would he have said that if
he wasn't? Timothy had a tendency in his own heart to be timid
with regarding the gospel. He had a tendency to be ashamed
of the gospel and the trouble it brought. And Paul is telling
him, don't you be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Now, let me make three statements
to introduce this message. And I believe that these things
that I am saying get stronger with me the older I get. Number one, I have an anxiety
and a desire that God would able me to preach the gospel. I have an anxiety about this
and I have a great desire that God would enable me to preach
His truth. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
9 verse 16, woe is unto me if I Preach not the gospel. It would have been better for
me to have never been born if I preach and don't preach the
gospel. I don't want to be laissez-faire
about that. I don't want to be presumptuous
about that. I have a great desire and an
anxiety. And it gets stronger with age.
that I wouldn't preach man's words, but that God would enable
me to preach His gospel. And the second great desire I
have is I want for me and you to hear the gospel as gospel,
as good news to hear the gospel and the power of God the Holy
Spirit and believe the gospel and be saved by the gospel. That's my great desire for me.
That's my great desire for you, to hear the gospel, not to just
sit and hear without hearing ears, but with hearing ears given
by God the Holy Spirit to hear the gospel as gospel, as the
joyful sound. Oh, I want that for me and I
want that for you. I don't want to just be a hearer
only, but I want to hear with hearing ears, don't you? I want
to hear the gospel as the gospel. And thirdly, I want me and you
to hold fast the form of sound words. Did you notice how Paul
said to Timothy in verse 13, hold fast the form of sound words which
thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
Don't let them go. Don't let them go. I want me and you to
persevere in the faith all the way to the end. To hold fast
and not let go the form of sound words. The wise man said buy
the truth and sell it not. I want that to be my attitude
and your attitude towards the gospel. To hold fast and to not
let go of the form of sound words. Now in Colossians 1.23 we're
said to be, verse 22 says, where every believer is holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. I want you to think about those
words. If I'm a believer, that means right now, in God's sight,
God sees me as holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. But the thought is not ended
if we continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be
not moved from the hope of the gospel. The only way that I am
holy and unblameable and unreprovable is if I continue in the faith. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 6 says,
whose house are we, speaking of Christ, if we hold fast and
don't let go? If we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope. The confidence, the confidence
in Christ, the rejoicing that's in Christ, of the hope, firm
unto the end. The Lord said, he that endureth
to the end, the same shall be saved. Hebrews chapter three,
verse 14, we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence. What's the beginning of your
confidence? I'm to hold the beginning of my confidence steadfast all
the way to the end. Now, if we really hear, first,
if I really preach, oh, pray for me that that's what I do.
Pray for me. You know the best thing you can
do for me is pray for me. I covet your prayers that the Lord would
enable me to preach the gospel. Now, if I preach the gospel and
you hear the gospel as gospel, Here's what will result from
that. We'll hold fast the form of sound
words. And we're going to see exactly
what that form of sound words is in this passage of Scripture.
Now let's begin in verse 1. And I think it's sobering to
think that Paul knew that this was his last epistle. He said,
my departure, in the fourth chapter, he said, my departure is at hand.
I know I'm soon going to die. And this is it for me. I've finished
my course. I've kept the faith. He knew
this was his last epistle and he would soon die. He knew this. And listen to his words to Timothy.
Verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which
is in Christ Jesus, I'm an apostle by God's will, according to the
gospel, the promise, I love that, the promise of life, which is
in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, verse 2, my dearly beloved Son,
how he loved Timothy. Grace, mercy, and peace from
God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Now that's what I want
more than anything else. Grace. Mercy. And if I have grace and mercy,
you know what I'll have? Peace. Peace. Now, let me say this. If you
and I don't have peace, Because we're not believing grace. Because
if you really believe that salvation is all together by grace, all
together, all together in Christ, what you're going to have out
of that? Peace. That's the only thing that gives
me peace. If you put a work in there anywhere, I don't have
any peace. But if salvation is by grace, By the mercy of God,
if Christ made my peace, I have peace. And that's what he prays
for Timothy. Grace, mercy, and peace from
God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Now he says regarding
Timothy in verse 3, I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers
with a pure conscience. Now how did he have this pure
conscience? I mean, was it because I'm looking over my life and
I don't see any sin there and I don't have any guilt? I've
got a pure conscience. I'm good to go. Is that where
Paul's coming from? Well, if you read Romans chapter
7, you know that's not where he's coming from. What is it
that gives a believer a pure conscience? Only one answer to
that. The blood of Christ. The resurrection
of Christ from the dead, the answer of a good conscience toward
God, Peter said. Now this satisfies my conscience
that Christ dealt with my sin and put it away and gave me his
righteousness and I have a pure conscience. Don't have anything
to feel guilty about. Now that's only by faith. That's
only by faith. Every believer, because of what
Christ has done, they have this pure conscience. Not because
of, I've really lived up to a standard that makes me feel like I don't
have anything to feel guilty about. No, but because of the gospel.
He said that without ceasing, regarding Timothy, without ceasing,
I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. And if you really love somebody,
you know what you do? You pray for them. You'll pray for him.
And once again, I covet your prayers. I pray for you. He said,
without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers, night
and day, verse 4, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of
thy tears, that I might be filled with joy. Now, Paul says regarding
this young man he's writing to, I remember your tears." In the gospel, tears are involved. Tears of sorrow over your sin,
tears of joy over the freeness of God's grace, over the excellency
and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation's not a feeling, but
it sure enough has feelings, doesn't it? You can't see the
gospel and not be moved by it if you really believe. And he
says regarding Timothy, I remember thy tears, that I may be filled
with joy when I call to remembrance, verse five, the unfeigned faith. That word unfeigned means real,
not acted out, un-fake. He remembered the un-famed, the
real, the genuine faith that dwelt in Timothy's heart. Now
let me tell you the key to un-famed faith. This is the key. Un-famed faith comes from being
an un-famed sinner. If you're a real sinner, that's
your name, that's your nature, that's who you answer to. It's
not fake. You really believe that Christ
is all you have. You really believe that his righteousness
is the only righteousness there is. Now if you're a fake sinner,
if you're not the real thing, you'll have fake faith. It won't
be real. But if you're a real sinner,
you'll have this unfamed faith that he's speaking of. When I
call to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee, and he
talks about family mercies now, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and I'm persuaded that's in thee
also. Now, I'm thankful If the Lord
plucks me as a brand of burning out of a whole generation and
I'm the only one that's saved in my generation, I'm thankful
for that, aren't you? There's some of you that none
of your family members know the Lord and you're the only one
that has believed the gospel. And there's other times where
we see family mercies. You know, my family has been
blessed unbelievably by the gospel of God's grace. Thank God for
that. Family mercies. Now, the one
who doesn't have family mercies has just as much mercy as the
one who does, but I still am thankful for family mercies,
aren't you? And he acknowledges that with Timothy. Verse 6, Wherefore,
I put thee in remembrance, that you stir up the gift of God which
is in thee, by the putting on of my hands, Fan the flame is
what the word means. Don't let it die out through
neglect. Fan the flame. Don't become distracted. Don't let the weeds of this world
make you a thorn-choked hearer. Don't be like Demas who, having
loved this present world, has departed. Fan the flame. Don't be indifferent about this.
Don't be fatalistic about this. Fan the flame. Stir it up. You know, every one of us have
a unique gift of God that he has given us for the good of
his church. Fan that flame. Don't be indifferent
about it. Don't neglect it. Don't be fatalistic. Fan the flame. Stir up the gift of God. which
is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Four, verse seven,
God hath not given us the spirit of fear, cowardice, controlled
by the fear of man, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now this is so important with
regard to the gospel we preach. With regard to the gospel, we
believe God has not given us the spirit of cowardice, being
controlled by what other men think, wanting to please men
instead of pleasing God, being a man pleaser, loving the praise
of men more than the praise of God. God hadn't given us that
kind of spirit. He's given us the spirit of power. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. He's given us the spirit of love,
love to God. love to the gospel of His grace,
love to His people, love to men, where we want to see men saved. We want to see men come to a
knowledge of the gospel of Christ, to bow the knee to Him. And that's
why we preach to... I want people to be brought into
the kingdom of heaven, so does every other believer. That's
our attitude, the spirit of love and power and of a sound mind.
A sound mind. You know, the gospel makes sense,
doesn't it? We don't believe it because it
makes sense, but it makes sense. It's the only thing that makes
sense, the gospel of God's grace. And it's to be preached with
a sound mind, not somebody out of control. Now he says in verse
8 to Timothy, Be not thou therefore ashamed Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Now that's what he calls
the gospel, the testimony of our Lord. And the word testimony
has in it the idea of being a martyr. You testify that which you're
willing to die for and indeed the Lord did die for this. Be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Now shame or being ashamed is
a feeling of fear and shame that prevents someone from doing something. Now let me repeat that. Shame is The feeling of fear or shame
that prevents one from doing a thing. Afraid of ridicule. Afraid of being disliked. Afraid
of being shunned. afraid of being marginalized
or even persecuted because of your identification with the
testimony of the Lord. And that's what Paul is saying
to Timothy. He says, don't you be ashamed of the testimony of
our Lord and don't you be ashamed of me or being identified with
me because I preached the testimony of our Lord. Don't be ashamed
of the gospel. Now, evidently, Timothy struggled
with this. Have you ever struggled with
this? where you maybe didn't want to
deal with the trouble that confessing Christ would bring you? Timothy
did. Paul says, don't you be ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. We need to be reminded of this,
don't we? I love what Paul said in Romans 1, 16 and 17. He said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed." The only way I'm ever going to have any understanding
of the righteousness of God is if I understand the gospel. Now
he said, you don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me, his prisoner, but you be a partaker of the afflictions,
a willing participant in the afflictions that come with the
confession of the gospel according to the power of God enabling
you. Now, he gives precisely just
what that testimony of the Lord is. Don't you want to know what
the testimony of the Lord is? I do. Now here is the testimony of
the Lord. Verse 9, He saved us. That's everything we believe.
So simply put, He saved us. He, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, He hath saved us. Not He will if, He
hath saved us. That's a complete salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Now,
I hear people say quite often, and you've heard this, I got
saved. You ever heard anybody say that? I got saved. I got
saved. What in the world does that mean? You know, the Bible doesn't use
language like that, does it? Not at all. I got saved. He saved
me. When I say I got saved, I leave
the Lord out of the equation. I got saved. Nobody in Scripture
speaks like that. If you're saved, you know this,
He saved you. He saved you. And He did it all. God the Father saved you in eternal
election when He chose you to be saved. We're bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. I was saved when Christ said
it is finished. That's what I was saved. When were you saved? When
Christ said it is finished. My salvation was accomplished.
I was saved when God the Holy Spirit gave me life and created
life within me and I was enabled to look to Christ. He saved me. Now I know what people mean when
they say I got saved. They mean I got fixed up and
I'm good to go. I'm good to go. I had this experience
fixed up, everything's fine. I'm saved. I got saved. And I've said this before, that
language goes along with, I got a cold, or I got sick, or I got,
you got sick. No, don't use language like that.
May the Lord deliver us from ever saying, I got saved. No,
he saved us. That's everything we believe,
isn't it? And we believe that with all of our heart. He saved
us. And don't miss this order. This
is so important. Verse 9. Who hath saved us and
called us. Now which came first? The saving
or the calling? Now what this tells me is I was
saved outside of my personal subjective experience. He saved
us. And then he called us. You see,
if you're saved, you will be called. Called by the gospel. Come forth. He that was dead
came forth. Zacchaeus, make haste, come down. Today I must abide at thy house.
He made haste, and he came down, and he received him joyfully. Matthew, follow me. He rose, forsook all, and followed
him. He saved us, and I tell you what,
if He saved you, He's called you. And if you haven't been
called by invincible, irresistible grace. to believe the gospel,
you don't have the right to even suspect that he's done anything
for you. Those he saves, he calls. He saved us and he called us. And that holy calling, notice
it says he saved us and he called us with a holy calling. It's a holy calling. It's a call
to holiness. Be ye holy for I am holy. Now the only way you can be holy
is if you are holy. And that calling he called us
with was a holy calling. And notice in this passage of
scripture, remember this is the testimony of our Lord. He saved
us. He called us. Note the order.
It's very important. He saved us. He called us with a holy
calling. And notice that calling is not
according to or predicated upon our works in any way. Now remember, this is the testimony
of the Lord that we're called upon to not be ashamed of. He
saved us, and He 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. Now listen real carefully. Salvation
is not God's response to you. It's His response to His blessed
Son. He saves for Christ's sake. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works. Now, your works are what you
do, not according to our works. Your works are what you do. Now
listen real carefully. If you put any work in your salvation
that makes some part of your salvation dependent upon what
you do, you've put yourself under the curse of the law. Salvation
is not according to our works. If a man says, well, my salvation
began with me accepting Jesus as my personal Savior. It begins
with an act of my will. You're under the law. If you
say in the middle of your salvation that somehow I make myself more
holy by the things that I do, by my Bible reading, by my abstinence
from sin, by my prayers, by my efforts, I make myself more holy.
You're under the works of the law. If you think you earn some
kind of reward of a higher nature other than being found in Christ
because of what you do, you make salvation by works. You're under
the works of the law. Well, that's a bad place to be.
He says salvation is not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace. Purpose grace. which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now you can write
this down. Grace and works are mutually
exclusive. You either believe all grace
or all works. Let me say this too. You know
God will meet you on the ground. You want to come? You want to
come on all grace? He'll meet you on that ground.
All grace. You want to come on the ground
of works? He'll meet you there too. Which way do you prefer? Now, I love the way this purpose,
grace, is spoken of. Not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and His own grace, which were
given us in Christ Jesus, being predestinated according to the
purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will. Don't you love that? Romans 9 and 11, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of
works. That's God's purpose. That salvation
might not be of works, but of him that calleth. Purposed grace. Somebody came up to a preacher
one time and said, I don't understand election and predestination.
And the preacher said, well, are you saved? I believe I am. Well, did you save yourself or
did God save you? God saved me. Did you help or did he do it
all? Oh, he did it all. Was this an
accident or did he do it on purpose? She said, I see. I see. His own purpose and grace. Do you know all that you have
right now was given you in Christ Jesus before the world began? I love that. I love that. There's nothing I could do to
mess it up because it was already given me in Christ. before the
world began, purposed grace. 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 boast. Now who is the us when he says,
who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling? Who is
this us? Well, it's everybody he saved
and everybody he's called. It's the same us as those spoken
of in Romans 8 31. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, this is the testimony of
our Lord for which we're to not be ashamed. You know, thinking
about this thing of being ashamed. There's
so much I'm ashamed of with regard to myself. Well, I would want
you to see into my heart. I wouldn't want to see it in
your heart either. But you know the gospel I'm preaching right
now, I'm not ashamed of it. It's the power of God. It glorifies
God. Now, let's go on reading. This gospel, this purpose, grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus, mediated to us through
Christ Jesus before the world began, before there was ever
time. But it's now, in time, made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Everything that was purposed
in eternity is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ. And here's what He's done. He
has abolished death. You know what that means? That
means He's taken the power out of death. The sting of death
is what? Sin. If you knew that all your
sin was completely put away, and that you had no sin at all,
would you be afraid to die? You wouldn't. Now if you didn't
have that confidence, that if you thought you might have to
stand before God on your own in some way, or your sin would
be, you'd be scared to death of death. But if the sting is
taken away, the sin is taken away, he hath abolished. He hath made death nullified
to where it has lost its sting. He has overcome it. And he hath brought life. He
hath abolished death. It was deprived of its power. It was rendered ineffectual.
He has abolished death. and he hath brought life, the
life of God in the soul, and immortality, deathlessness, to
light through the gospel. Notice the definite article,
the gospel. I was listening to a preacher
preach this week, and he was preaching on what he called the
doctrines of grace, and he said the doctrines of grace are true,
but they're not the gospel. He said the gospel is Christ
died for our sins. That's the gospel. Now, the doctrines of
grace are important, but they're not the gospel. And I thought,
well, that's a hideous misquotation of that verse. The gospel is
not that Christ died for our sins. You say that, you're not
preaching the gospel. It's how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures. Now, all this blessing that every
believer receives, it comes through the gospel. Verse 11, whereunto I am appointed
a preacher. Now, all this doesn't take away
from the fact that it's pleased God through the foolishness of
preaching to save you in the belief. That's how important
this is right now. The preacher's not important. You know, the
very idea of clergy lady and the preacher, no, I despise that
kind of stuff. But I still think it's interesting
that when Paul listed this, what did he say first? He's appointed
me a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.
God works through the preaching of the Word. And Paul says, that's
what I'm appointed to. I'm appointed a preacher, an
apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, verse 12, for the witch
cause. I also suffer these things. You
know ever where Paul went? He was beat up, thrown in jail,
beaten with a can of nine tails, beat with rods, stoned. I mean,
can you imagine? He says, I know that wherever
I go, bonds and afflictions abide me. He knew that. Wherever I
go, he knew when he was finished preaching what was going to happen
to it. But you know what he says about all that? He says, I'm
not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. For the which
cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I'm not ashamed.
For, and here's this glorious definition of faith. For I know
whom I have believed. and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day, that
day of judgment." Now listen to what he says. He doesn't say,
I know what I believe. Someone says, I know what I believe.
Well, big deal. I'm not even interested in it.
Paul says, I know whom I have believed. You see, what you believe
is determined by who you believe. I know whom I have believed.
And I am persuaded, I am convinced, and here's what I'm persuaded
of, His ability. Are you 100% sure that you're
saved? I know this, everybody who says
100% sure, I got some doubts about you. I really do. Now, I believe I'm saved when
I look to the Savior. When I look to myself, that's
when I start having, well, maybe I'm not. What if? What if? What
if? But here's something I am persuaded of. I'm persuaded that
He is able. He's able to save me without
any help from me. Do you believe that? He's able
to save you with no contribution from you. He does it all by himself. When he by himself purged our
sins. I love the way it says by himself.
I'm persuaded he is able to keep that which I've committed to
him. All my eggs are in this basket. That what he did is all that's
needed for me. That's it. I've committed the
entire salvation of my soul to Him for that day when my name
is called. Here's what I need for Him to
say, He's one of mine. I died for Him. I put away His
sin. I gave Him my righteousness.
He's perfect. For Him to answer for me. Now,
Paul says in closing, You hold fast and don't let go of this
form, this outline of sound words which I've just given you. And
this is an outline of the gospel right here. If you want to look
at a brief definition of the gospel, here it is. He saved
us. He called us for the holy call and so on, what we've been
looking at. He says you hold fast the form of sound words.
Don't let them go. Now first of all, do this for
yourself. You won't be saved if you don't.
Now, I know you can't hold them fast unless God enables you to,
but you're the one that has to hold them fast, as He gives you
grace to do it. Hold fast this form of sound
words. Do it for others. You know, if
you don't hold them fast, if I don't hold them fast, What
do I say to others? I say there's nothing to this
gospel we preach. It's not real. Hold fast the form of sound words. And here's the key. Hold them
fast in faith and love. Believing these sound words and
loving these sound words. Hold them fast in faith and love
which is in Christ Jesus. What's in Christ? All that God has for the sinner. What's outside of Christ? Nothing
but wrath and judgment. Now you hold fast the form Don't
be ashamed of the gospel. Be ashamed of yourself. You have
good reason to. I have good reason to. But all
of the gospel we believe, I'm proud of it. It glorifies God. It gives Christ all the honor,
and it's a sure salvation for all who believe. Hold fast the
form of sound words. Let's pray. Lord, take your word and bless it. Lord, it's your word. Take your
word and bless it. Lord, give us the grace to not
be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Lord, give us the grace
to be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to thy
power. Lord, give us the grace to be
able to enter in with Paul when he said, I know whom I have and
am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
to him. Lord, enable each one of us to
commit the salvation of our souls to thy dear son, to look to works
in no way to no degree, but to look wholly to him. And Lord,
give us the grace to hold fast the form of sound words in faith
and love, which is in Christ Jesus.