2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2, and I just
want to begin reading here in verse 22 and the remainder of
that chapter. I want you to look at the subject
of repentance. Let's begin reading 2 Timothy
chapter 2 in verse 22. the Apostle Paul writing to this
young preacher, this young evangelist, and he says, Flee also youthful
lust, and follow righteousness, faith, and love, peace, with
them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish
and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do generate
gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must
not strife, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God,
preadventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledgment
of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of
the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." In the first
part of this epistle, Paul had been encouraging this young preacher
not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord. Don't be ashamed
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but be partaker of the affliction
of the gospel. And here in chapter 2 in verses
8 and 9, we see some of the afflictions
that this apostle has endured himself, so he realized what
was in store for Timothy. He says here in chapter 2 and
verse 8, remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was
raised from the dead according to my gospel wherein I suffer
trouble as an evildoer even unto bonds but the word of God is
not found. He was a man who went and his
occupation in this world was to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ. He was hated because of it. He
suffered trouble because of it. Even was put in jail, and history
tells us that he was finally killed, executed for the gospel's
sake. So we had good reason here for
telling this young preacher, don't be ashamed of the gospel,
but be thou partakers of the affliction of the gospel. And
he also tells him here in chapter 2 and verse 2 and 3, he says,
The things which you have heard of me among many witnesses, the
same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And he says there in verse 1,
Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus. So there was a good reason for
Paul to encourage him to be strong because he knew that there would
be afflictions and suffering waiting for everybody who preached
the gospel. We don't see that much today,
and you know I'm not praying for it. I don't want to go out
and take a chance on somebody making a whipping post out of
me. I'm glad I'm not threatened with jail time for preaching
the gospel. But these men were. It seems like our affliction
is a little bit different today, isn't it? It's more inward afflictions
than anything else. But you know sufferings are relative. They're always relative. We suffer
today just as they suffered. Most of our suffering is within.
We fight the devil and the attitude of men. And we have to be strong
too, don't we? We have to be strong in the Lord
and in the power of His might. One of the main functions of
the church in all ages, no matter how lost men treat them or how
lost men feel about them, the function of the church in all
ages is to bear witness of the truth of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Go ye and teach all nations.
Teach all nations. Preach the gospel to every creature,
telling them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and
Paul tells Timothy here, you don't have time for foolish questions.
You don't have time to strive and make war and argue and debate
with people. That's a waste of time. Foolish
and unlearned questions, he said here, avoid, for they only generate
strives and divisions and confusion. And he said the servant of the
Lord must not strive. He must not be contentious. He
must not want to fuss and fight. His aim must be simply to preach
the gospel. It's not our aim to make people
mad, is it? That's not our aim to make people mad. I've seen
people and they thought if they made you mad, then they had accomplished
their goal. Maybe they did. Maybe that was
their goal. But Paul is saying here that's not our goal. There
has been preachers who begin their sermon this way. I know
that you're going to hate what I've got to say, but I'm going
to say it anyway. Ain't that a way? I know you ain't going
to believe what I've got to say now. They're probably not. With
an attitude like that, they're probably not, is they? Just wanting
to fuss. You and I aren't seeking to win
an argument. We're not seeking to make people
think we're smart, smarter than everybody else. We love passion. We love continuing for the truth.
But we should contend for the truth in meekness, in mildness,
in lowliness, and in gentleness. That's what Paul is teaching
us here, isn't it? That's what he's teaching us.
Some of us are getting older. I'm getting older. And sometimes
I don't feel good. I just don't feel good. And you
know, I don't like people screaming at me. That was a time that didn't
bother me, but I've got old enough now, I don't like people screaming
at me. If you want to talk with me and reason with me, I love
that, but don't scream at me. And don't point your finger in
my face. I don't like that, do you? I just don't like that. And Paul said, don't be like
that. Just don't be like that. I don't like smart alecks. I
just don't like smart alecks. And you know what I found out,
when somebody screams, when somebody raises their voice and gets loud,
they're hiding something. And usually they're hiding the
fact that they don't have an argument. They can't articulate
the truths that they say they believe, so they cover it up
by screaming and arguing and fussing. We ought to articulate
the truth with a mild and meek and gentle attitude. when we
talk to people. That's what Paul is telling us
here. If a man is apt to teach, as Paul says he must be, if he's
able to teach, if he has grasped the truth that he's presenting,
the magnitude of those truths, then he's usually somewhat meek
and mild about it. Because one thing I've noticed
about truth, it has a humbling effect upon our heart, doesn't
it? It has a humbling effect upon our heart. And when we teach
others, we should be gentle, like a nurse, caring for a man
with open wounds. You wouldn't go around jabbing
an open wound, would you? You'd be careful. You'd be careful. That's the way we should be when
we teach to lost people. We should be so careful. Patient.
Patient. Enduring someone's bad manners
and even rejection. Long-suffering, the Apostle says
here. Not being discouraged. if the
Word seems slow in bearing fruit. You know, if we believe that
God's Word is really God's Word, then we can exercise some patience
believing that ain't going to return void. It's going to accomplish
the purpose. So what do we do? We sow it in
gentleness and faithfulness and then we patiently wait for God
to accomplish His purpose. I think it's not only preaching
the truth, I think it's not only the church's responsibility and
blessing to set forth the truth by tracts, by witnesses, by preaching
in every way that we can, but it's the attitude. The attitude
means so much, doesn't it? It means so much. There's four
things here I want us to look at quickly in our text concerning
repentance. And first of all, this is our aim. This is my aim
as a preacher. And I trust it's your aim as
you witness to people under God, only under God, only by the grace
of God, to bring lost people to the knowledge of the truth. That's what Paul is saying here
in our text. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,
If preadventure, God will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth. That's our goal, to bring people
to the knowledge of the truth. The church's main focus in this
world is not to feed poor people. And there's definitely a place
to feed the poor. Paul said, remember the poor,
didn't he? The Lord Jesus said, the poor you have always with
you, and whenever you will, you can help them. But you know,
that's not the church's primary goal. It's not the church's primary
goal to house the homeless. That's good too when you have
the opportunity. It's sure not the church's goal
to have sports programs and social programs for the old and the
young. What is the church's goal in
this world? Paul tells us right here. It's
to bring lost people, ignorant people, to know the truth as
it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're to do. We're
to bring them to the knowledge of who God is. Somebody says
everybody knows who God is. Nobody knows who God is, do they?
That's the mistake that the devil has tripped us up in to think
that everybody knows who God is. And nobody knows who God
is. The only way to know God is from
His Word. And how many people you run into
that know the God of the Bible? We seek to bring men to the knowledge
of who Jesus Christ is in this glorious, redeeming person. what
He has done in the days of His flesh, where He is now, what
He is doing, what He is going to do, bring us to the knowledge
of ourselves, our sinfulness, the danger that we are in, and
the remedy that God has provided. This is the truth that we will
now seek to bring men to the knowledge of. And Paul says it
here, the acknowledging of the truth. the acknowledging of the
truth. I looked up this word in Vines
Concordance and they give it in a three-part definition. I thought this was very interesting,
the definition of this one word, acknowledgment, and here's what
we get into when they had to translate the Greek into the
English because the Greek, one or two words in the Greek, you
have to write a paragraph to get the meaning out of that one
word. And Vines has this three meanings that I love I love this
when you look up these words in these Greek dictionaries.
The first meaning he gives for the acknowledgment of the truth,
he says it is the acknowledgment in the sense of confessing the
truth. And here is 1 John 2 verse 25,
Whoso denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that
acknowledgeth the Son, the same hath the Father. This word acknowledges
Acknowledgeth the Son means confesses. He that confesseth the Son. Whoso
shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my
Father. It's a confessing with the mouth.
Acknowledging something with your lips. He that confesseth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's what this word
means. Sometimes it's a confession not just of Christ, but it's
an acknowledgement of sin. if we confess our sins, if we
acknowledge our sin. Lord, I acknowledge my transgression
and my sin is ever before me. So this word first and foremost
here means the acknowledging our confession of the truth. You know the Lord has no secret,
disciples, does He? This word here means the confession.
It's a mouth confession. If we shall confess with our
mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in our heart. You may be a secret
disciple for a while, but I'm telling you, you'll confess Christ.
You'll confess Christ. And you'll confess Him before
God and you'll confess Him to this world, the acknowledgment
of the truth. Bynes said the second meaning
to this word was this, it has to do with the heart knowledge
of the truth. And here's the definition he
gives, a full and thorough knowledge, a discernment a recognition of
the truth, a recognition, a discernment, a knowing the truth in our hearts. God will have all men to be saved
and come to the knowledge of the truth. That is what salvation
is. Did you ever notice the places
in the Scripture sometimes as you read how these two things
are vitally linked together, the truth and salvation? God
will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of
the truth. See how saved and the knowledge of the truth are
linked vitally together? Listen to this. You shall know
the truth and the truth shall make you free. See how those
two are linked together? You shall know and you shall
be free. The knowledge of the truth will
set you free. Of His own will begot He us with the word of
truth. God begetting us with truth, they're just vitally linked
together. You know there's no new birth
apart from the truth. Purifying your souls, seeing
you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. Purifying
the souls, the new birth and the truth go hand to hand. They receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved. When the Spirit of truth
is come, He will guide you into truth. No wonder David said,
Lord, lead me in thy truth. Teach me thy way, for thou art
the God of my salvation. The truth, the knowledge of the
truth. You know, I lived 25 years, 23 years of my life, and I was
lost. I was without God. I was without
His Son. And I was ignorant of the truth.
Twenty-three years I didn't know the truth until the Lord opened
my heart and taught me the truth of the gospel and saved me that
way. That's what being saved is, coming
to the knowledge of the truth. And that's the best definition
I could think of of repentance. is coming to the knowledge of
the truth. God would grant them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth. You know, sometimes we think
of repentance and we look at the emotional aspect of it, don't
we? And you see that in the Scriptures. There's tears. We read the man
in the temple smiting on his breast and saying, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. So emotions more or less to some
degree may enter into the definition of repentance. But here is the
best definition of repentance. Acknowledgement of the truth. Confessing the truth, knowing
the truth. Knowing it in our hearts. But I think Vines gives one more
definition here that shows just how deep Paul meant when he said
acknowledging the truth. It goes even deeper than confessing
and the knowledge when he said heart knowledge, look how deep
it goes. Bynes says this, this word also
means to recognize a thing for what it really is. To discern,
to discern, to be intense, closely strained, extreme in degree,
to grip soundly, It even has the definition violent or severe. And what he is saying is this
truth is a gripping reality. It is not just coming to the
knowledge of the truth as we used to say in our heads, but
it has a gripping reality upon the heart. And this is where
Repentance comes in because this truth is so gripping that it
will turn you. It turns us from our former life. Don't we see this all the time
in the Scriptures? You turn to God from idols. It turns men from darkness to
light, from self-salvation to faith alone in Jesus Christ and
His righteousness. It is such a gripping thing when
we have this hard knowledge of the truth. It turns us. It turns
us. And the people who say, you know,
I've been taught the Gospel. Sometimes I wonder what men mean
when they say that. But when people come to the knowledge,
they say they have the knowledge of the truth, and it never affects
their lives. That concerns me. Because the
very definition of this word here is intense. intense, gripping, gripping. No wonder the Lord Jesus said,
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. How long, Wayne, was you burdened
in that silly religion? But when you come to the truth,
what happens? It sets you free, doesn't it? It sets you free. I tell you, I've said this because
it made such an impression upon me looking back. I burdened myself
silly. I was sick. with the sense of
guilt and the burden of it all through my teenage years. But
as soon as the instant that I was brought to the knowledge of the
truth as it is in Jesus, my soul was free. My spirit was free. The truth will set you free. This is repentance and this is
our aim and our goal in this world. That's intense. Jo just got an email on her phone. She gets the emails before we
get them on the computer or something. She was reading to me yesterday
about Christopher Love. He was an old Puritan back in
the 1650s and he was writing his wife a letter early one morning.
They gave him a few minutes to write it before they executed
him. And they were executing him because he was a believer
in Jesus Christ, a preacher of the Gospel. And he wrote and
said farewell to his wife. And he said, You'll see my face
no more, wife. I'm going to the bridegroom. And he was so happy
to be gone. What would make a man willing
to leave his wife that he loved and the only world that he knew
and go through death to heaven? What would make a man willing
to do that? The truth. this heart-gripping reality of
the truth. And that is what the Apostle
is talking about here, that God would grant them, give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. But right here is the dilemma
we face in seeking to bring lost men to the knowledge of the truth.
He tells us here, "...in meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves." when we seek to bring lost people to the knowledge
of the truth. And you know the Bible says,
He that winneth souls is wise. To talk to lost people and find
out where they're at and reason with them is a wonderful blessing. I'd encourage you to do that.
Sometimes we're too timid and sometimes we think, well, if
we start a conversation, we don't know where to go with it. Well,
just start one and let it go where it will. and reason with
people and see if you can bring them under God to the knowledge
of the truth. And here's what you're going
to find out your dilemma is in doing that. They oppose the truth. They oppose their own salvation. Man is an unreasonable creature,
isn't he? Here we have this wonderful gospel that is so free and we
preach it to people and people oppose it and oppose their own
salvation. There are some children Bless
their hearts, they're so kind to their parents. If they thought
about disobeying their parents, it would break their hearts.
They'd never openly shame their parents. You'd never do that
to your mom, would you, Remy? It'd break your heart if you
openly shamed your dear mother. And don't you appreciate kids
that way? But there are some kids that way. They're so meek
and mild and gentle by their nature. But when they're confronted
with the Gospel in their hearts, they oppose it. They never oppose
their parents, but they oppose God. They oppose the truth. And
what's the problem? Nature. Human nature. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. He cannot know them. He cannot. And when you start
confronting the natural heart with the truth, he's going to
say, that's silliness. He may not tell you that, but
he's going to think, that's foolishness. That's foolishness. And that's
the dilemma that we find ourselves in, isn't it? And that's why
you and I have to be careful. We have to be patient. We have
to be meek, we have to be mild as we instruct people in the
truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel has enough in it to
offend the natural man. Let's don't offend them by our
silly attitudes and our harshness. The third thing here we see is
this, and here's another dilemma we face in verse 26, that they
may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are
taken captive by Him at His will." My margin says, to do His will.
The King James says, at His will. He's taking them captive by His
will. Both of those are true. He takes
them captive by His will to do His will. You know, it's a wonder
anybody's saved, isn't it? Isn't it a miracle of grace?
A man opposes the truth that he must know and believe to be
saved? And here you have the devil? He's working in him to
oppose the truth in him? And you consider these things.
You know, when you look at the air, if you and I could see,
if God let us see, thank God we'd see the air full of good
angels, holy angels. But you know what else we would
see? We'd see these black spirits running from one brain to the
next brain, and you know what their intent is? Have one aim
in this world, and that is to blind the minds of men, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of God, Jesus Christ, should
shine through unto them. Everybody has a will, don't they?
God has a will. Satan has a will. You have a
will. Angels have wills. Only God has
a sovereign will. Only God's will is sovereign.
But everybody has a will. Everybody has a will. And here's
the thing about the devil's will. It's more powerful than man's
fickle will. It's more powerful than man's
fickle will. Somebody said, Bruce, I'm a believer.
I'm a Christian. I'm a child of God. Well, if
God don't keep you and God don't strengthen you and keep your
heart By His grace, the devil will still overthrow you. He's
wiser than you are. He's stronger than you are. And
he'll get the best of you yet. He'll take you captive at his
will if God lets him. Job was a child of God, wasn't
he? Look what he did to him. David was a child of God. Peter
was a child of God. Solomon was a child of God. Lot
was a child of God. And look how the devil got advantage
of them. And if he can do that to save people, When God gives
him permission, what can he do to poor lost people who are without
God and without Christ and don't have the Spirit of Grace in their
hearts? What can he do to them? He takes
them captive at his will. That woman that was bent over
for 18 years and could no wise lift up herself, what was her
problem? Satan had bound her. That's what
the Master said. The little kid throwing himself
into the fire, into the water to commit suicide? What motivated
him to do that? The devil? That maniac that stayed
in the tombs and cried and cut himself with stones and refused
to go home and was naked? He had two legions of devils. The devil is opposed to anybody's
salvation. And you and I are here preaching
to people, witnessing to people. seeking to bring them to the
knowledge of the truth. And here Satan is in their hearts
opposing them and us at every step of the way. It is a miracle
of grace, brothers and sisters, that anybody is ever saved. But that brings us to this fourth
thing and this most blessed thing. He says here in verse 25, In
meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, preadventure,
will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth.
If God perhaps, if God maybe, we don't know the mind of God,
do we? We don't know the mind of God, but what He's saying,
repentance is a gift. Repentance is a gift. And God
can grant, He can give repentance. If it's a gift, He can give it
to whoever He's pleased, can't He? And I tell you, this is such
a sovereign gift. This is not a gift that you just
up and reject. There's a lot of gifts we reject,
but you won't reject this one. The gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. When He gives this gift, He ain't
going to take it back. And He ain't going to let you
reject it. It's a gift. The gifts and callings
of God. No one around the cross that
faithful day would have believed that Christ would have granted
repentance to that poor thief. But he did. There wasn't one
single believer in Jerusalem, I bet, that believed that Saul
of Tarsus would ever repent and know the truth. But he did, because
repentance is a gift. I'm still amazed, aren't you,
that repentance was granted to me? Aren't you amazed that you
know the truth? You haven't known the truth all
your life, and I haven't either. Somebody said, I believed when
I was a baby. That's too early in life to believe. Too early. But all through life,
we look back and we didn't know the truth. And what a miracle
of grace it is. And that's the only thing we
can attribute it to. Why are you here tonight and you know
the truth as it is in Jesus? because God granted you repentance. That's it, isn't it? He granted
you repentance. Oh, knowing the truth and believing
the truth and confessing the truth is a gift of God. And since it's a gift of God,
He can and often does give it to the vilest among us. Repentance is not only the acknowledging
of the truth, and that's a blessing, what an immeasurable blessing
to know the truth, what joy, what peace it gives us, what
assurance. It's heaven in our souls. The
truth is God in our souls because He's the God of truth. The truth
is Jesus Christ in our souls because He is the truth. as well
as the way and the life. The truth of the Holy Spirit,
that's what it is to know the truth, is to have the Spirit
of truth in our hearts. You shall know the truth. What
a blessing to know the truth. But you know something that's
even more than that. What a blessing it is to know
the truth. But when God grants repentance to the acknowledgement
of the truth, there's something else that comes right along with
that. And you know what it is? Life. life. Where He grants repentance, He
grants life. Repentance unto life. Peter went
down to Carnelis, the Gentiles' house and preached to them. He
was going back up to Jerusalem and they met him and they were
upset with him. Why did you go to the Gentiles?
And Peter said, God made me go. God opened my heart and told
me to go. And He said He's given them the
Holy Spirit as well as He had to us, and they helped their
peace, and they glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to
the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. So see, it's not just
sitting here tonight and you say, God's granted me repentance
to know the truth. Then if He's done that, He's
granted you life. Repentance is unto life. That's wonderful, isn't it? Lord
bless His Word.