Let's open our Bibles to the
text, 2 Timothy. Almost 46 years ago, Doris and I came to Ashland,
49 years ago, 1947. And I worked with the Pollard
Baptist Church as their youth director for a few months, and
then we moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where I pastored for
almost three years a Southern Baptist church and attended a
Bible college. I came back here in 1950, 46
years ago, as the assistant pastor of the Pollard Baptist Church
here in Ashland. We were very religious, very
devout and sincere in our religion, but very blind to the true gospel
of God's grace in Christ Jesus. And the Lord was pleased in a
miraculous, most unusual fashion to send a true preacher of the
gospel to this town. And how he came to be here would
take time, much time for me to explain to you, but there are
a number of Baptist churches in this area a large number. But God sent him to our particular
assembly. God sent a true preacher of the
gospel to our assembly. God sent him. He was a John the
Baptist. He was a lone voice in a barren
wilderness. And the sum and substance of
his message He preached here for two weeks,
morning and evening. And the sum and substance of
his message was a message that I'd never heard before. Though
I'd read the Bible, studied the Bible, tried to preach from the
Bible, I'd never heard this message. And the sum and substance of
it was this, salvation. And I had preached a salvation,
I'd use the word. But he preached that salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. The
sum and substance of his message was this. The whole of the work, from Alpha
to Omega, from beginning to end, the whole of the work and the
effort, whereby the fallen, dead, corrupt, depraved sinner, born
in sin, son of Adam, is lifted from the spiritual grave and
lifted from the dunghill of sin and washed and sanctified and
justified and purified and made a child of the King and raised
to glory. and seated with Christ in an
air of eternal life. All of that work, from beginning
to end, is of the Lord and of him only, by his grace, for his glory,
through his Son, Jesus Christ. And man contributes nothing to
that work. It's a gift. It's the free gift
of God. It pleased God to make you His
people. They said, David, where's your
God? He said, Our God's in the heaven. What's He like, David?
Whatsoever the Lord pleased. Whatever He pleased, that's what
He did in heaven, earth, and the seas, and all deep places.
God does what He pleases. The Lord reigneth. The Lordship
of Christ, something I've never heard. It pleased God to make you His
people. It pleased God that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. Who put the fullness in Christ?
God did. Why is it in Christ? God put it there. God willed
it. God anointed Him. God appointed
Him. God set Him apart. God made Him our surety, our
covenant head. It pleased God that in Him should
all fullness dwell. It pleased God to bruise Him.
Our wicked hands drove the nails, but we did what God determined
before to be done. Our wicked mouths spat upon Him,
but we did what God determined before to be done. Our voices
sang out, crucifying, crucifying, but we did what God determined
before to be done. God pleased, it pleased God to
break the seal. It pleased God to call us by
His grace. It pleased God to reveal His
Son in me. Not just to me, in me. I'd heard that, to me, preaching. I hadn't heard that, in me, preaching.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. It pleased God by the fruitiveness
of preaching. to reveal Christ, the preaching
of His glory and His grace. And someday, He who chose me,
someday, He who loved me, I didn't love Him. He loved me and I love
Him because He loved me. He who chose me, He who loved
me, He who redeemed me, He who bought me, He who called me,
He who kept me, someday, That same God will reach down and
raise my vile body in its dust and corruption, and make it like
His glorious body. And this corruptible shall put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, and
death shall be swallowed up in victory, and I'll join the redeemed
and ransomed in glory. And I'll sing the song I've been
singing 46 years unto Him. Unto Him. Not to a soul winner,
not to my parents, and not even to a preacher, and not to myself,
but unto Him who loved me and washed me from my sins in His
own precious blood. and made me a king and a priest
unto my God, unto Him be all the glory for all things, both now and
forever." God gave me ears to hear that gospel. A lot of my friends didn't hear
it. I was the assistant pastor. You
say, what happened to the pastor? He didn't hear it. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. I can't account for that except
God's will. My Lord said, Father, you have
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and you revealed
it to babes. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight. God gave me ears to hear, and
God gave me eyes to behold the Savior of sinners, the victorious
Savior, the incomparable Savior, the eternal Savior, the effectual
Savior, the particular Savior. And He gave me a heart, God did,
to bow to Christ and to love that gospel. And He gave me a
heart to understand. The Son of God hath come and
given to some people an understanding that we may understand the living
God. The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding that we may know Him that is true and that
we're in Him, in Him that is true. This is the true God. This is eternal life. It's not
in religion. It's in Christ. It's not in my
will. It's in His will. He gave me grace to believe the
gospel. which most people do not believe.
He gave me grace to trust Him, to rest in Him. And I think I
saw what old man Noah saw when the rain finally stopped and the water receded and the
ark sat down on that mountain on dry land and he walked out
of that ark And he saw the devastation, and the death, and the judgment
of God upon a wicked world, and himself saved. And he said,
salvations of the Lord. Why are you standing here knowing
everybody else is gone? By the grace of God. Can you account for Noah's salvation
any other way? He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. I saw what Lot saw. The next morning, standing in
the cave outside the little city of Zohar, he looked down on the
plains of Sodom where two great Powerful cities once stood. All that was there was ashes
and smoke going up to heaven. And there he stood. That's where
he lived. That's the people with whom he
lived. That's the people he called brothers. And here he stood delivered. How do you account for it? Salvations
of the Lord. I saw what Moses and Israel saw
when they were on the other side of the Red Sea. They'd walked
across on dry land and the walls of water on either side, and
they got on the other side and the walls of water fell on the
Egyptians and destroyed them. And they stood there and looked
at the judgment of God, the floating chariots, and the bloated bodies
of horses and men. The judgment of God had consumed
the nation's proud army, and here this ragged bunch of rag-tagged
slaves stood, delivered. How do you account for it? Salvation
is of the Lord. That's what Moses told them before
they went into the Red Sea. He said, Stand still! Shut your big mouths, he said.
Be still and see the salvation of the Lord. Wouldn't you love
to see God save some people? Aren't you tired of people making
their peace with God? Wouldn't you be wonderful if
God would make peace? Aren't you tired of people accepting
Jesus? Wouldn't it be great if God would accept some of them? I saw what Jonah saw. You just
have to read the first chapter of Jonah The second chapter there,
when he talked about being in the darkness, in the whale's
belly, the fish God prepared. The seaweed wrapped about his
head, he said. Darkness. Indescribable darkness. The iron bars closed. Maybe that's the ribs of that
fish. The iron bars closed forever. He said, I'll look one more time
toward the mercy seat, the temple. And he cried, Salvation of the
Lord! And a little while he stood out
there on an island or on dry land, the fish would spit him
out on dry land. How do you account for it? Salvation
of the Lord. I saw what Saul of Tarsus saw. It took him 40 years to see it.
Thank God it didn't take that long for God to reveal the gospel
to me. But Saul of Tarsus is in religion,
the bondage of law, self-righteousness in religion. He said, I was alive
once, I thought. bondage and emptiness of false
religion, going about with much activity and ado, trying to establish
favor with God, trying by his works and deeds to get a foothold
on heaven, never having any peace or joy or satisfaction, nothing
but a heart filled with religious piety and self-righteousness
and hatred for others. God delivered him. spiritual blessings in the heavenlies,
according as He chose me in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that I should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated me to the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His own
will, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Whoo! Boy, he was so happy. Because salvation is of the Lord. And one day, and I'm going to
have to have a good bit of work done on me between now and then,
because I don't think I could stand it. But one day, I'm going
to stand at a judgment. at a judgment. And I'm going
to see the dead, small and great, stand before God. All the religious
pagans of this world, all the people of this world stand before
God and claim like those people in
Matthew 7, Lord, we preached and we cast out devils and did
many wonderful works had a righteousness and all these things. And I'm
going to hear him say to them, depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity and the everlasting darkness. And I'm going to see
God's judgment, the overflowing scourge of God's judgment, fall
upon a world of make-believe religionists, false religionists,
pagans, idolaters, Self-righteous. I'm going to see God judge them
and cast them away. And I'm going to be standing
there delivered, having on a wedding garment His
righteousness, sheltered in the arms of Christ,
my High Priest, my Advocate, my Mediator. You are too. You're
going to stand in Him. Not having any works, not claiming
any, not looking for any, not professing any. Just looking
to Him. When the books are read, we look
to Him. And I'll tell you, you look to
Him then if you're looking to Him now. But you won't look to Him then
if you're not looking to Him now. And we're going to say,
If we haven't seen it like we ought to, and I know we haven't,
we're going to see then more clearly than we've ever seen
it before, salvations of the Lord. Now, there may be folks running
around down here on earth talking about what they did for God,
but there's nobody up there running around talking about what they've
done for God. Nobody. But there's a lot of people up
there talking about what He did for them. There may be people here that
say, God did a part, and our part, you know, sin left a crimson
stain, but me and Jesus washed it white as snow. They may talk
about that here, but not of that. It's unto Him who loved us and
washed us. There may be people here talking
about how they served the Lord and gave their tithe and was
faithful and preached and taught Sunday school and just did the
best they could and lived for God belong to the right church
and all this sort of thing, you know, but nobody there. Nobody. In His temple, everything gives
Him the glory. Every lip, every tongue, every
voice, every thought, every imagination. Forgetting those things which
are behind. whatever they may be, my falls or my successes,
my failures or whatever, or the good parts. It's Christ. Now, this man Paul is in prison,
and he's writing to a young preacher. He calls him his son. He's not
his natural son. He's his son in the ministry.
And he says in verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by
the will of God, according to the promise of life which is
in Christ Jesus. That's where the promise of life
is in Christ Jesus. God from the beginning promised
life in Christ Jesus. God in the Old Testament promised
life in Christ Jesus. God sent His Son to promise life
into this world. He said, this is my son. Hear
him. God now appoints preachers and
apostles and prophets and missionaries and pastors to proclaim the promise
of life is in Christ Jesus. Paul says, I'm an apostle of
Jesus Christ. I'm a preacher. I'm an ambassador. I'm a messenger by the will of
God to proclaim one thing, and that's the promise of God of
life in Christ Jesus. Now, Timothy, my son, and all
the young Timothys that will follow, my dearly beloved son,
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Timothy, it's not your hearers
that need grace, it's you and your hearers. We're not preaching down to people. We're preaching to ourselves
and them too. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 3, I thank God for you. I thank God for you. I thank God
for you and I pray for you. I thank God whom I serve for
my forefathers with a sincere conscience and without ceasing,
I have remembrance of you in my prayers night and day. I pray for you. I pray for you. And verse 4 says,
I greatly desire to see you, being mindful of your tears.
I'll tell you when that was. Those tears were, if you read
it sometime, Acts 20. The Apostle Paul was leaving
the elders at Ephesus, and Timothy was in their company, in their
midst. And Paul was going right here
to Rome. and to be martyred. And he knew
that. And he told them, he said, you'll
see my face no more. And they fell on his neck weeping.
And here he reminds Timothy of that. Verse 4, I greatly desire
to see you. I am mindful of your tears at
our parting. I want to see you that I may
be filled with joy. And then I love this verse here. When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith, that's genuine faith, without hypocrisy. I call to remembrance the genuine
faith that's in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother and
in your mother. Isn't that wonderful? I've had
the privilege in 46 years to experience that same thing. I
see faith. And some of you, it's the faith
I saw in your mother, and it's the faith I saw in your grandmother.
And I see faith in you young men, it's the faith I saw in
your daddy. And it's the faith I saw in your
granddaddy, who supported the gospel, who loved the gospel.
Right here in this place. Your granddaddy and your daddy. And now you. Oh, my goodness. That causes joy, doesn't it? That brings forth praise. Thanks be to God. You know, David
sat before the Lord one time and said, Lord, who am I and
what is my house? Who am I and what is my house?
My daddy and granddaddy and me, and by God's grace, my sons and
daughters, and grandmother and mother and daughters. that you
should show such mercy." Ah, my! It's salvations of the Lord. And it wasn't because his grandmother
was a believer that he's a believer. It's by God's grace he's a believer.
Paul's just remembering that his grandmother had the same...
God gave her the same faith He gave him. And his mom, God gave
her the same faith. I remember a friend of mine preached
his mother's funeral one time, He said to the congregation his
mother was a sinner, saved by the grace of God. It upset some
people awfully bad. No boy had ever stood in the
pulpit and called his mama a sinner. Now, he might have called his
daddy one, but not his mother. And it wounded some religious
folk. But it doesn't wound a believer
because he knows what sinners we are. And our mothers know
what sinners they are. And they know their sinner is
saved by the grace of God. His salvation is of the Lord.
It doesn't matter who it is. And there's no sinner that needs
saving more than any other sinner. And there's no sinner any harder
to save than any other sinner. God will save whom He will. Is
anything too hard for God? Can I not do with my own what
I will? Sure. All right. God had not given
us, but I put you in remembrance, verse 6. I put you in remembrance
that you stir up, you exercise the gift of God that's put within
you. Now that's written to Timothy and it's written to me, it's
written to every preacher, it's written to every believer. You exercise
the gifts of God. Everybody here has gifts. Gifts of God. Turn to Romans
12, just a moment. I want to show you something.
Romans 12, just a moment. Let me get on a sidetrack here
for just a moment. Sometimes we think preachers
ought to exercise their gifts. Well, they should. But every
believer has gifts. Here in verse 6, Romans 12, having then gifts differing according
to the grace that's given to us, who makes a difference? God
does. Where did we get the gifts? He
gave them to us. It's whether prophecy, let's
prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Or ministry, what is
your ministry? You have one. Let's wait on our
ministry. Or teaching, teaching on teaching. He that exhorteth encourages
someone, keep encouraging them. He that giveth, has God blessed
you to give? Help somebody? Keep helping.
And do it with simplicity. Do it with liberality. He that
ruleth? Everybody here has some authority. God put some authority in your
hands and mine. A father has authority. A husband
has authority. A mother has authority. A teacher has authority. A boss
has authority. Everybody here has some kind
of gift, ministry. He that ruleth? Let him do it
with diligence, dedication, as unto the Lord. He that shows
mercy, anybody here left out on that deal? The gift to forgive. The gift to love. The gift to
show mercy. Do it. And do it with cheerfulness
and let love be without dissimulation. Let it be sincere. Abhor that
which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Timothy, stir
up. Exercise the gift God's given
you. I tell you this, the more abundantly
we have been blessed, the more attention we need to give to
blessing. To whom much is given, much is
required. That's right. The more abundantly
we have received the grace of God, the more attentive we ought
to be in the exercise of that grace. Because God will require
it of us. And God's not given us a spirit
of fear, verse 7. We're not afraid. We're not afraid
of men. We're not afraid of devils. We're
not afraid of failure. We're not afraid of persecution.
We're not afraid. But He's given us the spirit
of power. That's His power, not ours. He's given us the spirit
of love. Love for Him and His people.
He's given us the spirit of a sound mind. That's Christ and His wisdom. Christ is our wisdom. Now verse
8, he says, Timothy, do not be ashamed of the gospel. Don't
be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Ashamed of Jesus? Just as soon let midnight be
ashamed of noon. Ashamed of Jesus? Sooner far
let evening blush to own a star. Ashamed of Jesus? That dear friend
on whom my hope of heaven depends? No, when I blush, be this my
shame, that I no more revere his name. Ashamed of Jesus? Yes, I may. When I have no guilt to wash
away, no fear, no tears to wipe, No good to crave, no fear to
quell, no soul to save. But till then, nor is my boasting
vain, till then I'll boast a Savior slain. And oh, may this my glory
be that He's not ashamed of me." Don't be ashamed of the gospel.
Don't be ashamed of the gospel. And you don't have to hunt trouble.
It will find you. You don't have to hunt persecution.
You don't need to go forth and be a nauseating religionist. Just be faithful. And persecution
will find you. It will find you. Affliction
will find you. That's right. Don't be ashamed
of the gospel. Don't be ashamed of me, he said, those who preach
the gospel. Don't be ashamed of those who
preach the gospel. Forty-six years ago when that
old, he called himself a hitchhiking evangelist, came here to Ashland,
he had a lot of eccentricities, lots of them. But he had the
gospel. And I'll tell you, In no way
in this world I could ever be ashamed of him. He's my friend. He told me the truth about God.
Every other compromising preacher I'd ever encountered in my life
had lied to me. That's what they said in the
Old Testament when they found the books. When they found the
books in the temple, when they found God's Word, Hilkiah the
priest found God's Word and he came to the king and he said,
our fathers have lied to us. Our fathers have lied to us. Our preachers, our prophets have
lied to us. I found the Bible. And this fellow
came along and told me the truth and me be ashamed of him? Don't
be ashamed of the gospel. Don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner.
And you be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. Like
I said, you know, you don't go around with a sign, the end is
near, you know, and make yourself a fool. You don't need to do
that. You don't need to catch somebody
on an elevator in front of ten people and ask them if he's born
again. You know, that's obnoxious. But just believe the gospel and
stand for it, where you are and with whomever you are. And the
occasion comes to give a witness for your Lord. Do it with simplicity,
and do it with meekness, and do it with humility. That's right. Just stand. Be ready to be a partaker. Now
here's that gospel. I'm going to give it to you briefly
and close. Be a partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. The power of God
who has saved us. Who saved us? God saved us. God saved. He saved me. Salvations
of the Lord. All right. He called us. Who
called whom? He called us. He called us. How did He call
us? By His Spirit, by His Word. He quickened us. He quickened
the dead. He called us. My sheep hear my voice. He called
through His Word. He called through the preaching
of His Word. But He called us with a holy calling, with a heavenly
calling. It wasn't a pulpit call. It was a heavenly calling. A
call to holiness. His holiness. Not according to
our works. It's not what He saw in us. It's
not what we were doing, or would do, or had done. Not according
to our works in any shape, form, or fashion. He's no respecter
of persons. He shows no partiality to any
person because of who he is, or what he did, or who his ancestors
were. He saved us. He called us, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose. He purposed to save us. He chose
to save us. He willed to save us. Why me? I don't know. I just do not know. I'm so glad, aren't you? according to His own purpose.
He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. He said,
Have I not spoken? Shall I not do it? Have I not
purposed it? Will I not bring it to pass?
Other sheep I have, which are not of this foe, them I must
bring, and they will hear my voice. Not according to our works, according
to His own purpose and grace. Oh, grace! Oh, sovereign grace! Provenient grace. Redeeming grace. Saving grace. Effectual grace. His grace given
us in Christ. In Christ. My friends, don't
miss that. It's in Christ. It's in Christ
Jesus. In the Lord Jesus Christ. In
the Lord of glory. The eternal God who became a
man. And He gave it to us when? He gave it to us before this
whole world ever began. That's right. You see, known
under God are all His works from the beginning. God doesn't change.
What God's doing, He has done. And what He has done, He will
do. What He will to do. God doesn't discover anything
new. He never changes. He never learns
anything. He knows all things. He said,
I'm the Lord. I change not. I heard an illustration one time
about a parade. A fellow said a parade went from
this end of town to the other. And he said, I saw it. I was
standing in a doorway and I didn't see what was coming. I saw it
when it was with me, and then I didn't see it again, passionately. And that's the way I saw everything.
I didn't know what was coming. I didn't know what happened to
it. I just saw what I saw. But he said there was a fellow
up in a blimp, looking down, and he's looking at the whole
thing, from beginning to end. Saw it all in one look. And my
eternal God, there's no time with God. There's no past, present,
or future. It's all present. Isn't that
right? And He knows all things. And He doesn't know them because
they happened. He knows them before they happened.
He sees the end from the beginning. He declares the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, it'll stay. I tell you, I tell you dear friends,
my dear beloved friends, that gives a fellow real comfort now. My life is not on the waves of
the sea that come and go and up and down. My life's in the
hands of Him who'll never change it. He's purposed it and willed
it and decreed it, and He'll bring it to pass for my good
and His glory. And things happen that make me
so sad. Some things happen that make
me so glad, and then they make me sad. But it all happens for
my good. Because He brought it to pass,
who loves me. That's what He said. But this
gospel, verse 10, is now manifested. It was given to us before the
world began. It was decreed before time began. But it's now manifested
by the appearance. by the incarnation of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death. There is no death to a
believer. The believer doesn't die of his
sleep. Go to be with the Lord. All whom He elected, for them
He abolished death, and He brought life and immortality to life
through the Gospel. And verse 11, whereunto I am
appointed a preacher, And I've tried to do that these
46 years, just preach the gospel of God's grace. I'm not going
to veer to the right or left, because this is the gospel. It's the only gospel. It's God's
gospel. It's the gospel of His glory. It's the gospel of Christ. It's the effectual gospel. And
it's the power of God unto salvation. We're not trying to impress anybody,
it's too late for that. We are trying to instruct them
in the truth. Pray that God, like that preacher
came along that time, he didn't need anything from me. He just
told me the truth and left me with God. And that's the only thing a preacher
can do, just tell you the truth and leave you with God. And for which cause I suffer
these things." There are a lot of people who don't love this
gospel. A lot of your friends don't love this gospel. And they
may make you suffer. That's all right. But I'm not
ashamed. The three things that make up
faith, Paul gives them here in that verse. I'm not ashamed.
I know whom I have believed. I know whom. And I'm persuaded
that he's able. to do all that He promised. He
has the power and He has the will. And He's able to keep that
which I've committed to Him against that day. And I've seen some
people who grew up in this congregation under this gospel. I've seen
them live and love and die. And I've seen them live in hope,
love in grace, and die in faith. with a smile on their lips and
joy in their hearts and a hope. It's a blessed hope. And that's
because God gave them that hope. I'll tell you this, make all
the professions you want to and join all the churches and do
all the shenanigans and give all the tithes, and I'll tell
you, it won't make that pillar of death very comfortable. And when that time comes, when
you're looking into His face, it won't make that gaze very
happy. But if you trust Him, and rest
in Him, cast yourself upon Him, His blessings and mercies, His
precious blood, it'll make your pillar a downy
salt, I believe. Give you grace to die.