If you want to, you can open
your Bibles to 2 Timothy, chapter 2. Faithful men and their faithful Lord. As you know, when Paul wrote
these words to Timothy, He was in prison in Rome. He was under guard. He was deprived
of his freedom and comfort. But he said, none of these things
move me. I'm not bothered by these things. Neither count I my life dear
to myself. I know how to abound, I know
how to be abased, so these things don't move me." And then he was
soon to die, and he knew that. He told the people when he left
them down at Antioch, he said, you'll
see my face no more, and they wept much. But he said in this
same epistle, I'm ready to be offered. The time of my departure
is at hand. And I thought a good fight. I
finished my ministry. I've kept the faith. So that
didn't greatly trouble him. In fact, actually, he was rather
anxious to leave this world and go to be with Christ. He said,
I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
And then he was exposed to public shame for preaching the gospel. He was rejected of his own nation. He was humiliated on several
occasions, beaten, stoned for the gospel which he preached.
But he said over here in chapter 1 of 2 Timothy, the page that
you're looking at, verse 12, for the rich cause I suffer these
things. Or verse 11, whereunto I am appointed
a preacher, apostle, teacher of the Gentiles. For the rich
cause I suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed.
I'm not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed.
And I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed
unto him against that day. I'm not ashamed. Not ashamed
at all. Besides all this, he had been forsaken and disowned
by many whom he thought were his friends. Men whom he thought were separated
to the gospel and dedicated to the gospel of Christ, they had
forsaken him, they had left him. Over here in chapter 1, verse
15, This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned
away from me, of whom are I and homogenous. But here's one who
didn't. The Lord give mercy unto the
house of Onesiporus. He often refreshed me, and he
was not ashamed of my chain, of my imprisonment, of my being
in jail, being chained to the wall. But when he was in Rome,
he sought me out diligently and found the Lord grant unto him
that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day, in how many
things he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very
well." Turn to chapter 4 in 2 Timothy. You talk to hear about Demas,
these companions, these friends, these men whom Paul at one time
had fellowship with. walked with them. They preached
the gospel. Evidently, or he wouldn't have
walked with them. But in chapter 4, 2 Timothy verse 10, he says,
Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. And
he's departed, gone, unto Thessalonica. Christians to Galatia, Titus
unto Dalmatia, Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, John Mark, and
bring him with thee. He's profitable to me for the
ministry. Verse 14 of this same 2 Timothy
4, look at verse 14. Alexander, the copper smith, did me much
evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works. Of whom be thou aware also, you
watch out for him too, for he hath greatly withstood our preaching."
At my first answer, my first trial, no man stood with me,
but all men forsook me. I pray God it will not be laid
to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood
with me and strengthened me. that by me the preaching might
be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and
I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." You see, the chains
and the guards and the prison and the discomforts and the prospects
of death did not trouble Paul nearly so
much as the loss of these friends, these former these men who were
now compromising the gospel, were not walking in the light
of the gospel of Christ Jesus. So he says to Timothy in chapter
2, 2 Timothy chapter 2, he says, Thou therefore, my son, my son, not my servant, not my
underling, Paul never entertained thoughts of that nature, not
even my helper, but my son. Over in verse 2 of 2 Timothy,
chapter 1, he calls him, listen, to Timothy, my dearly beloved
son. You see, those who truly believe
the gospel, They're more than acquaintances. They're more than
party members, such as Calvinists or Baptists or Protestants. They're more than church members.
Those who truly love Christ and his gospel are family. My son, our Lord said when they came
to him and said, Your mother and your brothers
and your sisters are outside the building and they would like
to speak to you." And he said, who is my mother? Who are my
brethren? Who are my sisters? And he pointed
to his disciples and he said, behold, my mother, my brother,
my sister, those who do the will of God, that's my family. And
that's what Paul is saying to Timothy here, you're my son in
the gospel, my dearly beloved son. Now, he goes on, he said,
you be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. There are
three words here that stand out and must be emphasized, three
words. The first one is the subject,
grace, be strong in the grace. which is in Christ Jesus. Grace. Sovereign grace. Free grace. Electing grace. There's no other
kind of grace. Redeeming grace. Effectual grace. Convenient grace. Keeping grace. All of grace. From Alpha to Omega. For by grace, God's grace, are
you saved. And that not of yourself. It's
the gift of God. By the grace of God through faith
you are saved. And faith not of yourself, it's
the gift of God. It's not of works. It is. So you be sure. Here's
the second word. In Christ Jesus. This grace comes
from Christ. This grace leads to Christ. This
grace is in Christ. This grace is maintained by Christ. This grace is ours only because
of Christ, and this grace will give all the glory to Christ.
That's the grace I'm talking about. Grace first inscribed
our names in God's eternal book. Grace gave us to the Lamb who
all our sorrows took. Grace taught our souls to pray. Grace made our eyes overflow. Grace has kept us to this day,
and grace won't let us go. Thou therefore, my son, be strong. There's another word. That's
the third word. Be strong in the grace that is
in Christ. That's the grace I'm talking
about. In Christ. Sovereign grace. Effectual grace. particular grace, discriminating
grace, God's grace. And every hour, you be strong. Don't you move. Be firm. Be dedicated. Be grounded. Be established in the grace which
is in Christ Jesus. As I said to you last Sunday,
I can only think of two reasons. why any man would compromise
the gospel of God's grace. It has to be one of these two
reasons. It has to be because of fear or covetousness. Now, it's got to be one of the...
If a fellow, whether in his heart or his head, and if a man compromises
it, evidently it's only in his head. Because if it's in his
heart, he couldn't compromise the gospel. But a man who knows
the gospel of grace in his head, if he compromises that message,
it's because of fear, the fear of men. And I tell you, the fear
of God will overcome the fear of men. Or covetousness, covetousness. The riches of Christ will overcome
that problem, too. What he realizes is Moses. that
the riches of Christ are far to be desired above the treasures
of Egypt. So, my son, be strong, unmoving, uncompromising
in the grace that's in Christ Jesus. And verse 2, And the things
which you've heard of me. What had he heard from Paul? Chapter 1 again, verse 7. Here's what Paul told him. For
God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind, Christ's wisdom. So be not thou therefore
ashamed of the gospel of our Lord, and don't be ashamed of
me, his But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God, who hath saved us, it is, 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 this world began, but is now made manifest
revealed unto us by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who hath abolished death effectually, abolished death for all his people,
and hath brought life and immortality to life through the gospel, wherein
do I am appointed a preacher. And you are Timothy, and you
fellows are. And you take this, look at verse
2. These things which you've heard
of me among many witnesses, chapter 2, verse 2, the same commit thou
to faithful men. What kind of men? Faithful men,
proven men. Faithful, who believe the Word,
who have the courage to preach it, who will not compromise it,
who are able to teach who have the gift and the temperament,
faithful men, commit this gospel to them, teach it to them, that
they may be able to teach it to others. Now, this is interesting
here. I want you to watch this. Paul
gives Timothy three illustrations, three examples of faithfulness,
dedication, work, and perseverance. This thing of the ministry, preaching the gospel, the gospel,
not a gospel, the gospel, the grace of God. And he gives him
three examples. First is a soldier. Look at verse
three. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. But I've been a soldier. Some
of you have been soldiers. And it's not an easy life. It's
a hard life. That's what he said. It's hardness.
Endure hardness. A soldier has enemies. He's in a battle. It's a warfare. And he must suffer. And that's
what he's saying. You'd be a good soldier, Timothy.
You're in the Lord's army. David said, is there not a cause?
Whose cause? His cause. The cause of his glory
and grace. Be a good soldier. A good soldier
won't compromise with the enemy. A good soldier won't sell out,
really. He won't compromise. No, sir. You endure the hardness and the
persecution and the offenses and the heartache. And if you're
deprived, that's all right. When we went into the service,
I think we were paid $30 a month. That's not much money. You go
overseas, you get 50% more. If you go down the submarine,
you get 50% or 60% more. I chose to stay on top and give
them the money. But a soldier endures hardness
because he's a good soldier of Jesus Christ. He wouldn't sell
out. He'd cut off his tongue before
he'd lie on God. Just like you men would never
sell out your country. If a man won't sell out his country,
why would a preacher sell out his God? I don't know. And verse 4, no man that warreth
goes to war, entangles himself with the affairs of this life,
he disentangles himself. He has to kiss his wife goodbye,
and his children, and his friends, and his mama and daddy, and he's
got to go to war. He's got to be disentangled from
anyone or anything that would hinder him from being a good
soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he wants to do what?
please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. These are special fellows. They
know they're special, and they lay down their lives before they
compromise his message. And when the general, when the
commanding officer gives him a message to take, to someone, he'll take it true
and faithfully. He won't sell out. Not a good
soldier. Then he says in verse 5, here's
another example, it's a runner in a race. He says, if a man
strives for the mastery, yet is he not crowned unless he strives
lawfully. Listen, we're in a race. Run the race
set before you, Paul said. Don't we circle about with so
great a crowd of former witnesses and believers. Run with patience
the race set before us. But a runner will not receive
the crown, listen, unless he runs the race on that track.
He doesn't pick out where he's going to run, what he's going
to preach. He's got to stay on the track.
He's got to stay on the prescribed track. He's got to run the race
according to the way that's been set forth. Christ is the way.
According to the truth, the rules. And then he's got to finish this
race. Finish it. Preaching the same
thing, you know. He's not going to change his
course and decide he's going out that way. He's got to go
this way, hasn't he? He's got to cross the line. When
his last breath is drawn, he's got to be preaching Christ, if
he's going to be crowned. When his last breath, his last
words, his last sermon, like David, these be the last words
of David, 75 years old. God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. That's what he believed when
he was a boy keeping his daddy's sheep. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. Surely goodness and mercy will
follow me all the days of my life. And it has when he came
to the end, he said, that covenant is all my salvation and all my
desire. I tell you this, I heard this
gospel. 1950. And what I believe and what I
preach has not changed one hair's breadth in that 46 years. Not one hair's breadth. I hope
I can preach it a little more wisdom, a little more affection,
but with no more conviction. I believed it then, I believe
it now. Not one bit of difference. That's
right. You're not going to be crowned,
no man is, unless he strives lawfully and finishes the race. And then he tells us another
example, and that's the farmer. The farmer, that laborer, he
must be first partaker of the fruit. Here's what he's saying,
the farmer doesn't gather fruit unless he labors. He must first
labor. He's got to plow and sow and
labor in the field before he partakes of the fruit. And even
then, the fruit's God-given. If God's not pleased to make
it grow, all of his labor is in vain. He knows that. Let me
read that to you. Paul said that over here, and
Timothy knew it when he wrote to the Corinthians. He said,
loudest read, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gives
the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything, nor he that watereth, but God gives the increase. And the preacher goes and preaches. He plows the new ground and he
sows the seed, the Word, the Word, the Word. He labors in
the field, he teaches, but he can't make one single seed live. That's what God has to do. He's the Lord of the harvest.
And there are preachers who say they believe that, and yet they
use methods and ways of making it come up. Leave it be. Preach the word. Water it with tears and prayers. Call on God for the sunshine
and the rain. But if he doesn't send it, that's
all right. We'll plow next year. If not one ear of corn comes
up, we're going to plow next year, because we're not going
to have any fruit unless we do. Now, I'd like to see a tremendous
harvest, but I know who the Lord of the harvest is. Now, look
at verse 7. You consider what I say. What did he say? Well, he said, Be strong in the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he said. What did
he say? He said, Commit this message
to faithful men. Preach the message. What did
he say? He said, you be faithful like
a soldier dedicated in this warfare to him who called you to be a
soldier. You be dedicated as a runner
in a race, striving for the mastery, for the crown, to finish this
race and fulfill your ministry, preaching the gospel. You be
faithful as a farmer. whether in the death pole or
a drought or the Lamb of plenty, to plow and plow and plow and
plant and sow and water. Look into the Master to give
the increase. And you, now you consider what
I say, and the Lord give you understanding. The gospel has
to be revealed. And this business of the ministry
of the Word, it has to be It just has to be revealed. And
we wonder why men can't see this, why those
who preach, even some of our own, like Paul said, some of
his friends, Demas and others quit. Why'd they quit? They never
understood. They had something here. They had
some ambition or something, or on an ego trip or something.
But they never understood. And he said, The Lord gives you
understanding of the ministry. Remember, it's not by might. It's not by the strength of men. It's not by many men and many
horses. It's not by power, human power. It's not by the wisdom and methods
of men. It's by my Spirit, saith the
Lord. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal to the tearing down of strongholds. These are satanic
strongholds. And all we can do is say, dry
bones, live! Dry bones, hear the word of the
Lord! But you can't make our dry bones live. You can't do
it. But our business is to tell them
who can. Now, you consider what I say,
and the Lord will give you some understanding. And remember,
I want you to hear me now, right here. Remember, this is the fundamental truth.
Remember, this is the greatest importance of the greatest importance
to our gospel. This is the point of attack from
Satan. from his ministry. This is the
area where there can be no compromise. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of faith was raised
from the dead according to my gospel. My friends, this is the
area where there can be no compromise. Our gospel has to do with this
person and his work. Our message, our gospel, our
testimony, it has to do with who he is. He's Jesus Christ. He's Jesus man. He's Christ anointed. He's the Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's God from heaven in human
flesh. He's Jesus, son of Mary, identified
with us, second Adam from heaven, federal head, representative.
He's Jesus. He's the Christ, anointed, appointed,
surety, Messiah from all eternity. He's of the seed of David, prophet,
priest, and king. What did he do? Well, he was
raised from the dead. Well, there was a whole lot happened
before he was raised from the dead. He came down here to this earth
on a mission. He said, I finished the work,
Father, you gave me to do. And he went to the cross and
he died for his sheep, for his people, for his elect, for his
covenant people, for his church, for his bride. He died for them. He redeemed them. Paul says here
in verse 8, according to the scriptures. Where is he now? He was raised
from the dead. Where is he now? God exalted
him to his right hand as a prince and a savior, as an advocate
of his people, as a victorious Lord, and he sat down. Having
finished his he sat down, till his enemies be made his footstool."
Now, Paul said, you remember that. And verse 9, wherein, because
of that gospel, remember the message, the person, his work,
according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble. That gospel
of the free, sovereign, effectual grace of God is hated by this
religious world. Not by sinners. Sinners don't hate grace. Religious
people hate grace. A sinner needs grace. He seeks
grace. He loves grace. He rests on grace. It's religious people that And
let me tell you something, the one doctrine that they hate and
despise above all others, and if you give in on this one, if
you make room for them on this one, if you compromise this one,
they'll let you preach whatever you want to. You know what it
is? effectual redemption. It's Christ
loved his people, chose his people, came to this earth as a representative
and surety of his people, and died and redeemed the everlast
one of them by his blood. That's what the hate more than
anything is. If you compromise that, they'll let you say whatever
you want to. That's right. And Paul said,
this my gospel is the reason I'm suffering trouble as an evildoer. This gospel of Christ, his person
and his work, substitution. It has a twofold effect. It's
loved by God's people and hated by everybody else. by God's people and rejected
by everybody else. It's a blessing to the believer,
it's an offense to the unbeliever. That's right. You remember, the
message is Jesus Christ, who by the power of God, was raised
from the because he satisfied the will of God and the purpose
of God and the glory of God for his people. And the Father raised
him from the dead and exalted him to glory as a show of divine
approval and acceptance of him and his church. And that's the
reason I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even under these chains. Paul said he had chains on his
arms. But I tell you this, the word of God is not changed. The word of God is not changed.
Paul said, they've got me down here in jail for preaching redemption
in Christ. But you can't put this book in
jail and you can't change it. His word goes forth. His word
goes forth. He sends it forth. His sheep
will hear his voice. They're going to hear it. You can kill this messenger and
God will raise up another. Put this one in jail and God
will send another one. He's never left himself without a witness.
Therefore, I endure all these things. That's
all right. My friends have left me. The
government has imprisoned me. And they've tried to silence
me. And they hate my message. But I endure all these things
for the elect's sake, for God's elect, God's church, God's jewels,
the ones he chose in Christ. I'm preaching it, and I wouldn't
compromise it for a throne, ten thousand thrones, because I preach
it that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ
Jesus with the eternal glory. They're going to hear it. I'm glad that the fellow that
preached the gospel to me didn't sell out, like my pastors did
when I was a boy. You remember them, Doris. They
sold out. And aren't you glad I didn't sell out? I preached
the gospel to you the best I knew how. And I'll tell you, I warn you,
you better not sell out either. I'm coming to the end of the
road, and some of you are just getting on the road. But when
you get as old as some of the rest of us are, you better be
able to say, I've kept the faith. I've kept the faith for the elect's
sake, for the glory of God and for the elect's sake. They're
not going to be saved listening to error. No, sir. Error doesn't save anybody. It's
the gospel that's the power of God and salvation. All right,
let me give you these last verses, and I'll quit. Now, verse 11,
it's a true saving. This is true. Don't you doubt
it. If we be dead with him, we'll
live with him. What's that mean? Well, of course
we're crucified with Christ, but that's not what he's talking
about here. He's talking about faithful preachers, faithful
elders, and faithful servants of Christ. So he says, if we
be dead with Christ, dead to the world's opinion, dead to their opinion. Our Lord
wasn't influenced by what people said about him. They called him
a devil, called him a devil. They said, you cast out devils
by the power of the devil. They called him a drunk, a winebibber,
they called him whatever. It didn't bother them. I read
a story one time about a young student in a preacher school,
it came to the professor, his pastor, and he said, what does
this mean if we be dead with him? Dead with him. Preacher said, well, do you remember
the young man that was a student here last year and died of pneumonia? He said, yes. And he buried out
there in the churchyard. He said, go out there and stand
by his grave. and just brag on him and brag
on him and brag on him, just brag on him. And he looked at
the pastor kind of strange and the pastor said, you go do what
I told you to do, go on out there. So he went out there and a few
minutes he came back and he said, I did what you told me. I went
out there and stood over his grave and bragged on him. And
the preacher said, what did he say? He said, he didn't say anything,
he's dead. He said, now you go out there
and crush him. Just run him down and talk about him and call him
everything you think, a liar and a cheat and a thief and a
satanic. Oh, he said, I couldn't do that.
Do what I said. He came back in and said, I called
him all those things. What'd he say? These ain't nothing,
he's dead. He said, that's what it means.
Dead to the world, dead to their opinions, dead to what they think. If they bag on you, it doesn't
make any difference. If they curse you, it doesn't
make any difference. Dead to their wisdom, dead to their philosophy. What the world calls wisdom is
foolishness to God. And what the world calls foolishness
is wisdom. Dead to their goals. You know
what their goals are? To see and to be seen. Our goals are to win Christ,
to know Him, and someday to see him. That's my goal. We'll be dead with him, we'll
live with him. Verse 12, if we suffer with him, we'll reign
with him. But if we deny him, he'll deny us. What's this saying?
Well, if we really love Christ and are called by his grace and
understand this gospel and love this gospel and stand for it,
we're going to suffer. It has an offense, it's a reproach. A man said to one of our fellows
here in the church recently, What you believe is satanic,
he said. That's what he said about the Lord. He said, You're
a devil. You'll lose some friends and
you'll be persecuted. We'll suffer with him, and we'll
reign with him. But if I deny, if I back down,
he says he'll deny me. Verse 13,
I'll close. If we believe not, yet he about
is faithful. He cannot deny himself. I've heard people say, well,
that means that even though the world doesn't believe, he's faithful,
he knows his sheep, he'll keep them. Well, Paul's still talking
to Timothy here. He's talking to believers. If
we be dead with him, we'll live with him. If we suffer with him,
we'll reign with him. If we deny him, he'll deny us.
If we believe not yet, he's faithful. He cannot deny himself. Here's
what he's saying. All believers, you and me and
everybody else, All believers experience unbelief in some form
too often. Yeah, we do. I feel like the
centurion about all the time, Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief,
don't you? And what he's saying here is
that our faith sometimes is so low and so small and so weak
And we're so filled with doubt and fear and unbelief. Thank
God he's faithful. You and I are so wishy-washy
sometimes, but he's faithful. He's faithful to his covenant,
he's faithful to his promise, he's faithful to his people,
and he cannot deny himself. Because you are himself. He's
the head and you're the body. He'll never deny you. Never will. Never will. Not you. He can't
deny himself. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, he will not, he will not desert to its foes that soul,
though all hell should endeavor to shake. And Peter said, I don't know him. Didn't
he? That was a moment of, that was
about as low as he ever got, weak as he ever got. But his
Lord never left him, and that's what he's saying. If we don't believe, he does. He does. And I live by his faith,
not mine. The faith he gives. All right,
let's sing that hypherma foundation, 268.