with thy mouth, Jesus to be Lord, and shall believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. Now thou shalt be delivered,
redeemed. For it is with the heart that
man believeth unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation, now, redemption. In other words, we
don't have to wait until the last judgment to discover if
we're children of God. The scriptures exhort us to know
our spiritual state, to determine Now, our spiritual state. Paul said, don't turn to these
scriptures. You know them. I've read them
many times before. Paul says, let a man examine
himself. In 1 Corinthians 11, when you
assemble for the Lord's table to remember his death, to take
the bread and the wine, let every individual examine himself, whether
he be in the faith. And so let him eat. Determine
it right now, at this present time. Am I in Christ? Do I discern
His broken body and shed blood? Do I believe? Do I love Him? Am I redeemed? Yes, I am. I take
the bread and I take the wine. In 2 Corinthians 13, he says
this. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5. Examine yourself now. Whether
you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you're
not your own selves. How that Christ is in you, is
Christ in me. Except I be a reprobate. And
then in 2 Peter, I do want you to turn to this verse. The Apostle
Peter tells us to determine right now. our relationship with the
Lord God. In 2 Peter 1, verse 10, he says,
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence, not at the judgment,
but not on your deathbed, but give diligence now to make your
calling and election sure, certain, For if you do these things, you'll
never fail. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Now the believers in the Old
Testament, and they had much less revelation than we have, The Lord God had not given them
the promises, but the fulfillment of the promises had not taken
place. Christ had not come. And yet
these believers in the Old Testament, who are our examples, they were
sure, based on what revelation they had, what understanding
they had, what scripture they had, the promises of a coming
Lord. Nowhere near the revelations
and understanding that we have, and yet Job said this, in Job
19. He said, Oh, that my words were
written in a book, that they were graven with a pen, an iron
pen in the rock forever. I know. I know. I don't suppose. I don't think. I know. My Redeemer
liveth. And on this earth, in the last
days, He shall stand. And I'll see my God, not another,
I myself in the flesh, I'll see my God. That's confidence. And yet this man, he lived before
Abraham. His was the first book in the
Bible, the book of Job. He's the oldest patriarch that
we have anything written about to this extent, and he knew his
relationship with David. The Lord is my shepherd. He is
right now my shepherd, my redeemer. And I shall not walk. And surely goodness and mercy,
he concluded, Psalm 23 with these words, shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I shall, will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever. When his young son died, he said,
He can't come back to me, but I intend to go to Him. That's
where I'm going, David said. And I'll be satisfied when I
wake with His likeness. That's what I'm talking about.
We don't have to wait till life is over and we stand before God.
That would be a serious mistake. But this thing is to be determined
now. Examine yourselves. Isaiah. He was wounded for our transgressions. By His stripes we are healed.
I do want you to turn to this scripture, 1 John 5. Listen to
John here. I spoke on this, I believe, last
Sunday. 1 John chapter 5, verse 13. Now these things I have written
unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that
you may know, that you may be certain and sure that you have
eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God. You know, when our Lord had risen
from the grave and appeared to His disciples, they were out
fishing. He called them in and He had
prepared a meal for them. And they talked and then he took
Peter aside. Peter who had denied him. Peter who had led the other disciples
out. I believe, intending to leave
the ministry and go fishing. But he singled him out and drew
him aside and he said to him, Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? He said, Yea,
Lord, I love Thee. Well, feed my lambs. And he asked
him a second time, he said, Peter, do you love me? Yea, Lord. Thou knowest that I love Thee.
Well, feed my sheep. And he asked him the third time,
Peter, do you love me? And Peter was grieved that the
Savior should ask him the third time if he loved him. And he
said this, Lord, You know all things. You know the heart. of a man, and the thoughts of
a man, and the intent of a man, and the motive of a man, you
know I love you. And that's what I'm saying that
everybody who does know Him and believe Him can say tonight.
Why could Peter say it and I couldn't say it? If I love Him. Why could
Peter say that to the Lord? Why can't I say it? I can if
I do. I can certainly say to many here,
you know I love you. So why can't I say that to the
Lord, if I love Him? And that's what I'm saying, we
don't have to... You know another time, the Apostle Peter, all
these people had left the Lord. He'd fed them and performed miracles
and they just left. They said what he had to say,
they couldn't hear it. They just wasn't going to have
it. It's a hard saying. Who can understand it? Who can
believe it? And they all left, and he turned
to these disciples. And he said, will you also go
away? And again, this apostle Peter,
spokesman for the group, he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Now you tell me, to whom shall
we go? Where is salvation to be found? Where is life to be
found? Where is truth to be found? Where is light to be found? Where
is hope to be found? Tell me! To whom shall we go?
We believe and are sure that you are the Christ. There is
no other. We look for no other. We believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ. Promised through the
whole Old Testament. who's come to redeem sinners,
sent of God, we believe and are certain that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Now that's my testimony. Is that
yours? So that's, God said, believe,
I believe. He said, you've come to me and
you're saved. I came to Him. There's nowhere else to go. I'm
sure. Now our text, and I turn to 2
Timothy. I want to talk about this confession
of the Apostle Paul a little bit. I read 2 Timothy 1, verse
12. This faith in Christ is a confidence. It's a confidence that leads
us to confess Christ. It's a confidence that leads
us to forsake all other religions. It's a confidence that leads
us to follow Christ whatever the cost. And that's what the
Apostle Paul is saying here. He's saying, verse 12, for the
which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not
ashamed. I know whom I have believed. Knowledge, I know whom I have
believed. I know who he is. I know whence
he came. I know why He came. And I know
where He is. I know whom I have believed.
And that knowledge leads to confidence. Listen. I know, and because I
know whom I believe, I'm persuaded, I'm confident, absolutely confident
that He is able to keep my soul, my life, my all. He's able to
keep. Now watch, that knowledge of
who He is leads to a confidence in what He does. And that confidence
leads to a commitment to Him to do it. I know whom I have
believed. And because I know whom I have
believed, I am confident He and He alone is able, the earth to
Christ, the center of God, to take, to keep All that needs
to be kept. And when I know that, and when
I'm confident of His power to keep, then what do I do? I commit
it unto Him. Against that awful day of judgment. That great day of judgment. That
day of judgment when nothing can be altered. You know, a lot
of times folks sort of have a... They invest in something, but
they don't invest everything. Because it could fail. They kind of, you know, when they
go swimming, they kind of put their toe in to see how cold
it is. And what Paul is saying here,
I know Him. And I'm confident that He's able
to keep, to present me righteous and holy, to be all that God
requires. So I've committed it all to Him.
against that day, that day of judgment, when we sure don't
want any surprises. We don't want any uncertainties.
Because that's the day when God says to one group, enter ye in,
enter ye blessed into the kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. And to the other group, depart
from me, I never knew you. You see how serious this is?
And I know a lot of people don't take it seriously. I know that
a lot of preachers don't. They're playing a religious game
and toying around with people's souls, and they'll try this way
a while, and that won't work. They'll try something else, and
that won't work. They'll try something else, and they keep
changing their methods, means, and message. But that day is
a serious day. And that day is truth. or error,
right or wrong, salvation or damnation, life or death, with
God or forever away from God. And that's what he's saying.
That's the very thing he's saying here. I know whom I have believed. I know whom I trust. And I'm
totally, completely persuaded beyond a shadow of a doubt that
he's able to keep that which I've Committed to Him. Lock, stock and barrel. Life,
soul, body, family, future, present. Commit to Christ. Well, let's
talk about these three words. Let's talk first of all about
knowledge. I know whom. Now, let's look at this a little
bit. I know whom. Now, I know, I've
got a lot of friends that are that are wrapped up in this dangerous
thing. With them, it's, I know what
I believe. I'm not a Catholic. I'm not a
Methodist. I'm not a Presbyterian. I'm a
Baptist. Or I'm not an Armenian or a free
will. I'm a Calvinist. I know what I believe. But brethren,
what I believe is not what he says. And they'll argue with you till
the darkness falls to try to convince you or persuade you
of certain positions. And notice he doesn't say, I
know when, I believe. There are people wrapped up in
that, an experience. Something happened, I saw a light,
I heard a voice, I had a feeling, or something happened at a particular
time. He didn't say, I know when I
believed. I imagine a whole lot of people that don't know really
when they believed. They still believe. Or when they
repented, they're still repenting. Or an hour, a day, or a month,
or even a year. Because God's still revealing
Christ. He's more precious today than
He was yesterday. And he doesn't know how, he doesn't
say, I know how, I know how this came about. I had certain experience
in this, the begetting before the birth and the conception
before the awakening and all this sort of thing. Listen, I
know him. I know him. He's taken up with
a person. He does not rest in or build
a hope for life eternal on religion or church affiliation or feeling
or experience or works or laws or duties. His confidence is
in his Savior. I can't stress that enough. I
know whom I have believed. Salvation is a person. Every Old Testament believer
looked to Christ. Abraham rejoiced to see my day. There was a whole lot about that
day he didn't know about, but he knew whose day it was. There's
the key. My day! Abraham couldn't have
written you a very big paper on what that day was like, but
he knew whose day it was. The revelation of a person. Moses
says, God's going to send a prophet like unto me from among the brethren. Him you shall hear. And if you
hear Him, you hear from God. If you don't hear Him, you don't
hear from God. And Moses didn't know a whole lot about what would
take place when He came, but he did know who was coming. A
prophet, a priest, a king. That's what Paul said in Philippians
3, O that I may know Him. But let's turn to Isaiah's testimony. In Isaiah 53, talk about knowing
Him. I know whom, whom I have believed. Whom do you believe? Whom do
I believe? Somebody asked an old preacher one time, do you
have a creed? He said, yes sir. He said, what is your creed?
He said, Isaiah 53. There's my creed. It's a person. Look at Isaiah 53 verse 2 and
3. He talks about this substitute
person. Substitute Savior. He shall grow
up before Him as a tender plant. as a root out of a dry ground.
He hath no form, no comeliness, and we shall see Him. There's
no beauty we should desire Him. He's despised and rejected of
men, and He's a man, a God-man, a man of sorrows, a man acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed
Him not. That's our substitute Savior,
the God-man. I know who. All right? our suffering
Savior. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, and yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we were healed. All we like sheep had gone astray.
We turned every one to his own way, and the Lord had laid on
Him, Christ, the iniquity of us all. See my suffering Savior? I know whom. My substitute Savior. My suffering Savior. Now watch
this. My willing, silent Savior. He didn't object. He didn't resist. He was oppressed. Verse 7, He
was afflicted. Open not His mouth. He's led
as a lamb. He is God's Lamb. To the slaughter. As a sheep before her shearers
is done, He opened not his mouth. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down. My willing, silent Savior. That's whom I believe. Alright,
what's the next verse? Verse 10. My successful Savior. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. God put Him to grieve, my Savior. God made his soul an offering
for sin. His soul, now mind you, not just
his body, but his soul, an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. That's my sovereign, successful
Savior. He cannot fail. I know who. He's a substitute. He's a sufferer. He's a willing
sufferer. He's an effectual successful
sufferer. Now watch verse 11. He's a satisfied Savior. And
he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. My
Savior never attempted anything he didn't accomplish. He never
set out on a work he didn't finish. He never attempted to save a
soul he didn't save. He never attempted to find a
sheep he didn't find. He is seated, not walking around,
seated at the right hand of God, expecting not only his enemies
to be his footstool, but his children to all be redeemed. That's whom, I know whom, my
satisfied Savior. He, by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. For he shall bear their iniquities.
Now I want you to look at my exalted Savior. Verse 12, Therefore
God says, I'll divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil of the strong. Because he had poured out his
soul unto death, he was numbered with the transgressors, he bared
the sin of many, and made intercession with the transgressors. See,
that's so much bigger than a what, or a when, or a how. It's a whole. I know whole. I don't know Him like I want
to. Oh, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.
I haven't apprehended. I haven't arrived. I haven't laid hold upon that
for which He laid hold of me. But I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded. that I have
laid hold of it in Him. Spurgeon said this, I looked
to Christ, and when I looked to Christ, I had no knowledge
of any personal or saving interest in the death of Christ. I didn't
know that He died for me personally. I had no way of knowing that
He died for me personally. I just knew that I was a great
sinner. And I knew that God said in His
Word that Christ did die for sinners. I knew that God said
in His Word that Christ came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I was the chief. And I know that God said He was
made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And I knew that Christ said,
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. I knew that he said, look unto me all the ends
of the earth and be ye saved. So you know what? I looked. I
came to him. I believed his word. I trusted
him on the authority and strength of his promise who cannot lie. With me it was sink or swim.
I go to him. He died for those who trust Him.
I trust Him. I know whom. The hymn writer,
I thought this was so beautiful. To illustrate what I've been
trying to say. I know whom. Before the throne
of God above, I have a strong, a perfect plea. I have a great
high priest whose name is love, and he lives to plead for me. My name is written on his hands.
My name is written on his heart. And I know while in heaven he
stands, no one can bid me to depart. Because my sinless Savior
died, my sinful soul is reckoned free. For God the just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me. Behold Him there, the bleeding
Lamb, our perfect, spotless righteousness, the great, unchangeable I Am,
the King of glory and the King of grace. You can be sure when you know
Him. But I understand why people are
uncertain and unsure and troubled and filled with doubts if they're
resting in anything else or anyone else. But he can't fail. And the second word is confidence. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I am persuaded. I'm confident. Not in myself. We have no confidence
in this flesh. Let me show you a verse of scripture
in Philippians 3, where Paul gave a threefold characteristic
of believers. True Israel. A description of
true Israel. Here in Philippians 3, verse
3. We are the circumcision. We are true Israel. We are the
people of God. Number one. which worship God
in the spirit, not just form and ceremony, but in the spirit. Secondly, we rejoice in Christ
Jesus, Christ alone. And thirdly, we have no confidence
in this flesh, none whatsoever. It's not Christ and my works,
it's not Christ and my duties, it's not Christ and my profession,
it's Christ. I have no confidence in myself.
I have no confidence in my works. It's not by works of righteousness
which we've done. I have no confidence in church
leaders. They're human beings. They're sinners. They're fallible
creatures. I have no confidence in the apostles. You read about how they fought
among themselves. Paul and Barnabas had a terrible
falling out. The apostle Paul rebuked Peter
when he departed from what he knew to be right. No confidence
in the prophets. No confidence in any son of Adam,
in any shape, form, or fashion, or anybody today that says, that
He represents God. I don't have confidence in Him.
I do when He preaches the Word. I have confidence in the Scripture.
You can have confidence when a man preaches Christ, but don't
put any confidence in Him. But our confidence and our hope
is in Christ. I'm persuaded. And I'll tell
you why I'm persuaded. Turn to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter
7. I'm going to read just a few
verses here. to follow along as I rehearse. Here's why. My
confidence and trust and rest is all in Christ and Christ alone.
Let me show you Hebrews 7, verse 19. The law made nothing perfect. The bringing in of a better hope
did, by the which we draw nigh to God. And inasmuch as not without
an oath, he was made a priest. For those priests were made without
an oath, But this priest with an oath by him that said to him,
the Lord swear and will not repent, you are a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. That's my priest. He's my priest. I can have total confidence in
him. The Lord God with an oath, he swear by himself. He can swear
by no greater. Christ is a priest forever. Read
on. And by so much was Jesus made
a surety of a better covenant, better hope, better covenant.
These other priests, they were priests, many priests, because
they were not suffered to continue because they died, but this man,
Because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, because he hath an
unchangeable priesthood, he is able to save them to the uttermost
that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession. There is my confidence. I am
persuaded. He cannot fail. Right across the page, Hebrews
8. Listen to this. Verse 3, Hebrews 8, verse 3,
Every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices
wherefore of necessity that this man, this man, this priest after
the order of Melchizedek, this Jesus Christ, that he has somewhat
to offer. And he does. And I'm going to
show you what it is over in Hebrews 9, verse 19. Hebrews 9.19, turn
over there, when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people
according to the law, he took blood, blood of calves and goats
with water, and he sprinkled with scarlet wool and hyssop.
He sprinkled the book, the people, saying, this is the blood of
the covenant which God hath enjoined unto you. He sprinkled with blood
the tabernacle. He sprinkled the vessels, about
everything. Almost all things, however the
law, purge with blood. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. So, it was necessary, therefore,
that the pattern of things in the heavens should be purified
with blood, but the heavenly things themselves with better
blood, better sacrifice than calves and goats. Listen, for
Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should
offer himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy
place every year with the blood of others, for then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin, by
the sacrifice of himself, his blood. There's my confidence. I'm persuaded. He of whom God
speaks is able. One other verse over here in
Hebrews 10, turn the page. Verse 12, but this man Verse
11 said, Every priest standeth daily, ministering oftentimes,
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sin, because there were pictures, types. Oh, but look
at this carefully. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering, He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Why, of the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he said before,
this is the covenant I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my law in their hearts, not on tables of
stone, but write them on their hearts, so they'll love them.
And in their minds will I write them, so they'll think on them.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. And
now where remission is, there's no more offering for sin, and
there's no more sin to be put away. There's no more offering
because there's no more sin. He purged all of our sins. He
cleansed all of our sins. So there's no more offering for
sin. His is effectual. Having therefore brethren, boldness. to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus. And let me tell you, if I can
enter the holiest now by the blood of Jesus, I'll enter the
holiest then by the blood of Jesus. That's right. I know whom. Can I make it any
plainer? I have belief. I am fully, confidently,
without a doubt, persuaded that He is able. He's able. He's going to save a people.
God said He won't fail. Why can't I be one of them? Why
shouldn't I be one of them? Why shouldn't I trust Him? He certainly urges me and commands
me to come. Let's talk about commitment just
a minute more. Verse 12, I know whom I have
believed, Paul said, look at my text again, 2 Timothy 1 verse
12, I'm persuaded. He, no one else is able to keep that which I've committed. This commitment is a wholehearted
commitment. Christ our Redeemer is Lord of
all or he's not Lord at all. It's unworthy of His great name
and person to talk about a partial commitment. It's unworthy of His great name
and person to talk about a part-time relationship with Christ. Or
token allegiance, that's not worthy of His name. Or part-time
discipleship, that's not worthy of His name. I had a young man
say this to me one time, a young professional man. We've been friends a long, long
time. And he is a wealthy, professional
man. And he has no affiliation or
association with the things of God. And he came to hear me preach. And we talked. And he said, I'll
tell you this. A man cannot have two Lords.
And I know that. And right now, this particular
thing, Occupies my whole life. Occupies all of my time and money
and effort and everything else. And I'm not going to pretend
that Christ is my Lord when He's not. He said, I know that. And my friends, I know that.
It's not worthy of His name, is it? To talk about a partial
relationship, a part-time discipleship, a part-time allegiance, I've
found in the Scripture that those who came to Christ came completely. Let me show you something in
Matthew 4. Matthew 4. Let's look at this a moment.
I was reading this just a little while before, in
the study there, a little while ago. Matthew 4, verse 18. Matthew 4, 18. Jesus, walking
by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers. Simon called Peter,
Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen.
And he said to them, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men.
And straightway they left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence he saw
two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother. In a ship was Zebedee their father,
mending their nets, and he called them. And they left the ship,
and they left their father, and they followed him. That's the
picture. They left these things and followed
Him. And whatever it requires for me to leave, I'm willing. There are four words I think
of when I think of commitment. Four words used in the Scripture.
Let me give them to you. Four words the Scripture uses
for commitment. One is to come to Christ. Come
unto me, he said, all ye that labor in a heavy laden. Come
to me. Not come to the church, or come
to the front, or come to the altar, or come to a position.
You come to me. Everyone that's thirsty, come
to me. I'm the water. You're hungry, come to me. Come
to me. That's the first thing. All right,
secondly. And he said, all that are taught of my Father will
come to me. Here's the second one, is to receive him. To receive
His Word. To receive Him. You see, He came
into the world and the world knew Him not. He came to His
own, the Jews, and they received Him not, but to as many as received
Him. Welcome them. Welcome, Lord. Welcome into my heart. Welcome
into my home. Welcome. And I turned loose of
everything else and received Him. And then thirdly, is to
believe on Him. This is the record. God has given
us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. And he that believeth
on the Son hath life. That's believing the record God
has given. I believe the Scriptures. As
far as I know, there's no other way to know Christ except in
the Scriptures. Do you know of any other? I know
the heavens declare the glory of God, and the power of God,
and the wisdom of God, but the way of redemption only the scriptures
declare. Is that correct? I can't think
of any other. God speaks through His Word. And I believe it. Plenty of folks who oppose it,
and who deny it, and who argue against it, but it's to believe
Him. And the only way to believe Him
is to believe His Word. All of it. And then fourthly,
the scripture I read to you when I started this message, confess
Christ. Confess Him. How does one confess
Christ? From the heart. With the heart
we believe. And the mouth confesses what
the heart believes. So that's where it starts. Secondly,
confess Him before others. Confess Him in baptism as Linda
and Greg are going to do in just a few moments. Tell the world,
He's my Lord. Confess Him thirdly in identification
with His people. Our Lord said, they said, your
mother and your brothers are out here. He said, who is my
mother? Who are my brethren? These who do the will of God.
The same are my mother, my brothers, and my sisters. That's what we
say. It's in obedience to Him. If
you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And then fifthly, is to continue
in this way. That's what Paul said in Colossians,
if we continue in the faith and be not moved away from the gospel,
don't leave the gospel. Like Peter said, there's nowhere
else to go. Don't leave the gospel. And my friends, this is the gospel. Our Father, bless this word.
We're grateful for this day. We're grateful for the scriptures. We're grateful, O God, that you've
opened our hearts and taught us your word and revealed to
us the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can say, and you know
our hearts, Lord, you know all things. You look not on the outward
countenance, but on the very soul and heart and innermost
thoughts of a man or woman. And we say with the Apostle Paul,
I know whom I have believed. I know. I love you. You know
that. And I'm persuaded, absolutely
confident, that you're able. Because of who you are, because
of your precious blood and your perfect life, because of your
power and sovereignty and grace and love. because of who you
are, you're able to keep that which we've committed to thee. We believe, Lord help our unbelief,
increase our faith, for Christ's sake I pray, amen.