this evening singing in Psalm 103, Psalm 103. That's in the Sing Psalms version on page 135.
We'll sing verses 1 to 11, these first three sections.
Praise God, my soul, with all my heart. Let me exalt His holy name. Forget not all His benefits.
His praise, my soul, in song proclaim. The Lord forgives you all your sins and heals your sickness
and distress. Your life He rescues from the grave and crowns you in His tenderness.
So on down to verse 11, praise God, my soul. We'll stand to sing.
Praise God, my soul, with all my heart. Let me exalt.
His holy name. Forget not all His benefits. His praise, my soul, in song proclaim.
The Lord forgives you all your sins and heals your sickness and distress.
Your life He rescues from the grave and crowns you in His tenderness.
He satisfies your deep desires from His unending source of good.
So that just like the King of strength, your beautiful name God is in you.
The Lord is born for righteous acts and trust is true.
The Lord is merciful.
Moses' name may go on his ways, his mighty deeds to Israel's sons.
The Lord is merciful and kind to hang us low and full of grace.
He will not constantly reproof or end his anger by his face.
He does not punish our best deeds, forgive our sins, their just reward.
How great is love that I ascend towards all those who fear the Lord.
We're going to call upon the Lord again in prayer, so let's all just join together in prayer.
Almighty and gracious God, as we give thanks for being able once again to gather here
and to come before you as worshipers of your great name, we thank you for these words we
have been singing, reminding us of your own unending stores of good for those who love
you and for your own people down through the centuries, even from the beginning of the world.
Lord, you have taken from these stores of good and dispensed them to your people.
We thank you tonight, Lord, in the access we have to you, that we can seek from you, that
you would dispense further from these stores of good that which would do us good this evening.
We thank you, O Lord, that we can come to you and claim in the name of Christ access to the
grace that is in you and to these stores of good and to these stores of good and to these
that flow toward us so abundantly.
We thank you that we have not earned them for ourselves.
We thank you that they are indeed by your grace and the free gift by which you come to dispense
your salvation.
We thank you tonight for the way that you teach us, O Lord, of those great issues in
your word that have to do with our redemption.
And we thank you that in your word you have taken account of all our need as we find ourselves
in this world.
O Lord, bless us, we pray, as once again we gather here before you.
Help us once again to turn our mind to those things that are revealed in your word that are
of eternity, the things that belong to the most important issues that we can know in life,
our own relationship with you, your own rule over us, the way in which you have provided
redemption for us, the glorious attributes that belong to you, the way in which we can have
our confidence in Christ and know that our life is secure in him.
We pray, Lord, tonight that you would lead us further into the understanding of your truth,
as you have revealed it to us in the gospel.
We pray tonight that you would give to us further encouragement, Lord, to trust in you,
in a world in which we find so much that discourages us, so much that causes us at times even to
feel disconsolate and disappointed and disillusioned.
Help us, Lord, we pray, to find our confidence in you.
Help us to come to know that as we trust in you, so you have guaranteed to your people that victory
that is especially brought to us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
And enable us, Lord, as we continue to trust in you, that we may find day by day that your grace
is channeled into our lives, that your strength is made perfect in our weakness, that we find the
fulfillment of your promises to look after your people even as they go through this life.
Bless us then, Lord, we pray, as a congregation of your people once again as we gather before you.
Bless us, we pray, too, in all our other activities that accompany the worship of your name in our experience.
We thank you, Lord, for all that we are enabled to partake of and take part in, Lord, in the course of each week as they go by.
And we pray that you would bless all that we seek to do in your name with all the different activities and groups that meet from time to time.
We, Lord, seek your blessing upon them all.
Again, we pray your blessing for our children, for our young people, for our young adults, for those who, O Lord, receive instruction from your word,
and for those who meet also in the upper years of life.
Lord, we pray that you would bless each and all of these activities.
We ask that your blessing will be especially upon your word to them.
Anchor, O Lord, these young lives, especially in the things of your truth, and give them to be rooted and grounded in Christ himself,
so that they have him as their sure foundation, that whatever things lie in a wait for them as their life develops,
they may be sure that this is not going to change,
that however many changes they may experience in the course of life,
they may never find the foundation in Christ himself to be subject to any change or moving or any alteration.
And so, Lord, we commend them to you.
We give thanks for the many young families we have as a congregation.
We give thanks for the many young people who come to attend the means of grace,
the services such as these and other activities.
And, Lord, we pray for them as we commend them to you tonight.
We pray that you would go before them,
that you would provide nourishment for them daily from your word.
And we ask that they would indeed come to walk confidently in the steps of faith,
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We ask tonight for those who may be struggling with their faith,
struggling to deal with the issues that are in their life in providence.
Lord, we pray for them.
We know that there are some of us who find it difficult from day to day,
who struggle with mental health issues,
who find ourselves sometimes bewildered with what's happening in the world around us.
Oh, Lord, we ask that you would grant us this stability
that would be from your own guidance of us,
from your own spirit at work within us,
from that living relationship with you, Lord,
that draws all our strength from you.
Remember, we pray tonight,
those who are laid aside with illnesses of various kinds,
we commend to you, Lord, those who are receiving treatment,
those who have been through operation and surgery in recent days.
We ask, Lord, that you'd bless them
and bring them back to health and to strength, we pray.
We ask, Lord, that you'd bless Marianne as she recovers from her own surgery.
We thank you that she is recovering.
And we thank you, Lord, for all that she has done and continues to do in the congregation,
and especially with our young people.
And we pray that your hand will be upon her,
that you will know, Lord, your strengthening,
your guidance and your restoration of health to her at this time.
And we pray, too, Lord, that you'd bless all others like her
who are known to us at this time to be suffering from various types of illness,
confined to hospitals, those in our care homes,
those who are looked after by others at home.
We pray for them, O Lord.
We pray for those whose years have now reached the stage
where their faculties physically or mentally have begun to fail.
And, Lord, we pray for them.
And we give thanks that despite our outward failures,
Lord, your word assures us that our inward man is being renewed day by day.
And we thank you that the spiritual condition of your people
is constantly in your hand.
And that even as we anticipate our bodily decay as the years go on,
we thank you, Lord, that there is no decay
in the life spiritually that you give to your people.
Help us to hold on to and to cling to these great truths.
We pray tonight, too, Lord, for those who mourn the passing of loved ones.
We know, Lord, as each week goes by.
We have pretty much each week that we experience here
various deaths that affect families belonging to us as a congregation
or in our community.
We pray for them, O Lord, tonight as they seek to adjust to life without loved ones
and also those who have lost loved ones in days gone by.
We pray for them, Lord.
And we pray for those especially in this week gone by
that have had to bid farewell to their loved ones.
We pray for Anne Chris as she misses her beloved Neil.
We pray for herself and Martin and Christine and for the whole family.
And we commend them to your care and ask that you would uphold her
and all who help her at this time.
And so we pray, Lord, for all others who mourn tonight in this troubled world of ours.
And, Lord, we pray that we would never forget,
even though they may have disappeared from news items,
those in the world who suffer so greatly in various circumstances
and conditions that are beyond our understanding and experience,
those, Lord, especially who have the devastation of war,
of famine, of being outcasts, of refugees.
Oh, Lord, all of these great problems in our world
and the management of them and sometimes the mismanagement of them,
we, Lord, seek for the gospel to be blessed,
for your kingdom to advance,
for people to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
for them to place and deposit their lives in his hand.
And so we pray, Lord, for the gospel,
for those who take the gospel to various parts of the world
and face deprivation themselves and consequence.
Oh, remember your people, we pray,
as they carry the message of Christ
into this world that so largely does not want it.
And we ask for your Holy Spirit, Lord,
to come to shine into people's hearts
the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.
When we read, Lord, in the earliest stages of the world
that the Spirit of God hovered on the surface of the waters
and that by your Spirit all of these things
were kept together and managed,
we pray, Lord, for the management of human lives
to be brought under the directing of your Spirit,
to be brought to know you as a Savior
who is able to do so much, Lord,
beyond what we are able to ask or even think.
Oh, Lord, we pray for reviving power
in our own experience.
We pray that our own hearts will be
reignited with the flames of your Spirit.
We pray, oh, Lord, that you would come in our day
and as we complain to you of how we find so little,
oh, Lord, of an appetite for the things of God.
And so we pray that you would re-instill in our hearts
that hunger and thirst for righteousness
that you tell us characterizes you people.
And we pray for ourselves tonight
that we may draw, Lord,
our spiritual nourishment from you
through the gospel.
Hear us then, we pray now.
Continue with us, guide us into your word,
and pardon our sin for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
We're singing once again now to God's praise,
and this time it's in Psalm 54.
Psalm 54 in the Scottish Psalter,
page 284,
verses 1 to 7.
Save me, O God, by thy great name,
and judge me by thy strength.
My prayer here, O God,
give ear unto my words at length.
For they that strangers are to me,
do up against me rise.
Oppressors seek my soul,
and God set not before their eyes.
Psalm 54, verses 1 to 7,
to God's praise.
Save me, O God,
by thy great name,
and judge me by thy strength.
My prayer here, O God,
give ear unto my words at length.
For they that strangers are to me,
do up against me rise.
O presence of sin,
my soul, and God set not before their eyes.
The Lord, my God,
my help,
Lord, that for I am bold,
He take the heart with every one,
that hath my soul of old.
But do my name,
and he is the child,
may save and ill be paid.
O Lord, my truth,
save but them all,
and weep and lead away.
I will have sacrifice to thee,
and with thee,
and with thee worthiness.
Thy name, O Lord,
be cost is good,
with grace,
with grace I will forfez.
For he hath me delivered,
from all my mercilies.
And this desire,
my life hath seen,
upon my enemies.
Let's now turn to read God's word.
This evening we'll find that in 2 Timothy.
The second letter of Paul to Timothy,
chapter one.
Reading through the whole chapter.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus,
by the will of God,
according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus.
To Timothy, my beloved child.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father,
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I thank God, whom I serve,
as did my ancestors,
with a clear conscience,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day,
as I remember your tears.
I long to see you,
that I may be filled with joy.
I am reminded of your sincere faith,
a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois
and your mother Eunice,
and now I am sure dwells in you as well.
For this reason,
I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God,
which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
For God gave us a spirit not of fear,
but of power and love and self-control.
Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord,
nor of me, his prisoner,
but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
who saved us and called us to a holy calling,
not because of our works,
but because of his own purpose and grace,
which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus,
who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,
which is why I suffer as I do.
But I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed,
and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me,
in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us,
guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me,
among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.
May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus,
for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.
But when he arrived in Rome,
he searched for me earnestly and found me.
May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.
And you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.
And may God once again bless to us our reading of his holy word.
Let's now sing once again, before we turn to this passage,
Psalm 125 on page 419.
Psalm 125, the whole of the Psalm.
We are going to be looking later in a moment at what Paul referred to as his own security in Christ Jesus, his Saviour.
And here's a reminder, a Psalm that reminds us how the Psalmist found an illustration of his protective,
God's protective care and his security, even in the physical creation,
as the mountains around Jerusalem stood in such a grand, immovable way.
And so he found that as an illustration of the security that he himself had in God as his Saviour.
They in the Lord that firmly trust shall be like Zion Hill.
which at no time can be removed.
but stand by the Lord that shall be like Zion Hill.
then the Lord that firmly trust shall be like Zion Hill.
which at no time can be removed.
but stand the death was still.
as round about Jerusalem,
the mountains and the way.
I find the commandments God is where one nation can bring forth to him.
The mahdoll
What ill men shawed upon the Lord of just men shall not lie,
lest righteous men set forth their hands unto iniquity.
Good power to all, O Sáad, be good, thy goodness stormed in part,
and do thy good to all, O Sáad, a bright within their heart.
But as for Son has turned aside, after their crooked way,
God shall be poor, when wicked men on Israel these shall see.
Now please turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 1.
2 Timothy chapter 1, and especially words you'll find there in verse 12.
He's been talking here about how as a called apostle of God and preacher and apostle and teacher,
his sufferings that he's endured are so keyed into this particular way in which he has served God.
But he says,
But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed,
and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
Now one of Paul's great concerns in writing these letters to Timothy is that Timothy not only will be encouraged,
but also prepared to meet with the difficulties that will still come in his way,
and especially so when Paul himself is no longer in this world,
and when he will no longer be receiving letters from the beloved apostle.
As we see in this epistle itself, Paul is saying to Timothy,
I'm now being poured out in verse chapter 4,
and the time of my departure has come.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
So he's alerting Timothy to the fact that his own future is safe in the hand of God,
but he is going to actually face difficulties as he continues to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in this world.
Which is why he says that both he and Timothy together must be partakers of the afflictions of the gospel.
They must willingly take to themselves the share that God has appointed to them
in whatever afflictions come their way as apostles or as servants or preachers of the gospel.
And now he comes to bring Timothy's mind to what is actually foundational to his confidence
and encouragement as he would go ahead and go on serving the Lord.
He brings him really to the ground of confidence, the ground of confidence,
indeed the only ground of confidence, which is Christ himself.
He says, these are the sufferings I am suffering, but I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day
what has been entrusted to me.
Or we can translate it as we'll see what I have entrusted to him.
So he's really putting it in the form of a brief personal testimony to Timothy.
Paul is saying, this is my testimony.
This is what I'm convinced of.
This is what I'm leading you to actually keep in place for yourself as well.
And of course, at the end of anyone's life in this world,
if we know that somebody wants to speak to us,
especially somebody who's been a faithful Christian over many years,
and they call us and we go to see them and they speak to us,
well, it's a situation, as you know, where you take more careful note than usual, probably,
of what they have to say.
Because when they know that they're on the verge of eternity,
their words have added significance.
And most of us, of course, have maybe come to,
some of us at least come to that position where we've seen somebody
just reaching the end of the course of life in this world,
and the things that they say to us, what they believe,
the kind of life they've lived, the advice that they give us,
that is even more significant in these consequences, in these circumstances.
And that's really what Paul is doing here.
He's giving some very direct encouragement to Timothy,
but it's in the light of his own departure,
in the light of the fact that he's not got long to live.
And as he stands on the threshold of eternity,
he's really saying to Timothy,
this is the only fail-safe foundation that you've got.
This is what you need to come back to again and again
when so much changes around you,
when you see so many fears in yourself,
when you find yourself questioning things,
you have to come back.
He's really saying, pretty much saying this,
you have to come back to this,
that he, this Savior, this Jesus,
is able to look after things for you
and to look after yourself especially.
So he's saying, I know whom I have believed.
And so because he's able to say that,
he has that confidence,
he's convinced about Jesus looking after
all of his possessions
and all of his confession
and all of his person
as he looks to the future.
I want to look at two things
that arise out of this.
It's a wonderful passage.
First of all, the issue of knowing Jesus.
I know whom I have believed.
There is a confident note
in the apostle and Paul's testimony here
to Timothy.
I know whom I have believed.
The second thing is
what we can call a safe investment
when he comes to say that
he is able to guard
until that day
what has been entrusted to me.
And we're going to take that
the way the AV puts it.
I'll explain that in a minute.
And when we come to it,
he is able to guard
what I have entrusted to him
until that day.
So here's first thing of all.
First of all, knowing Jesus.
Now, together here,
you'll find knowing and believing.
I am not ashamed
for I know whom I have believed.
So the knowing and the believing
are locked together.
They're not alternatives.
They exist together.
They belong together.
They're in partnership
in the experience of those
who actually have
a saving experience of Christ.
It's a mistake
to actually think somehow
that you have to separate
faith or believing
from knowledge,
from knowing.
That the working of your mind
is somehow detached
from what you're doing
when you believe.
You'll find that idea
that is sometimes thrown at us
for believing in a Jesus
that we don't physically see
and that we believe things
that the Bible tells us about him,
that we believe
what Christians have believed
down through the centuries.
And people will accuse us
of really, you know,
you're believing in something
you cannot verify.
You've never seen this person
and yet you claim
that you believe in him,
that you trust in him,
that you actually find him
the basis of all your hopes.
How can you do that?
Well, because believing
and knowing
actually go together.
It's not simply a matter
of believing in Christ.
It's also knowing Christ.
And our believing,
in any case,
is not a leap in the dark.
It's not as if you're just
jumping off a spiritual
or moral cliff
and somehow hoping
that you're going to land safely
without really knowing
what's ahead of you.
That's not the kind of thing
that faith is.
Tonight,
if you're a believer in Christ,
you're not believing blindly.
You're not believing in something
really that you don't know much about.
Because,
as Romans 10,
verse 17 tells us,
faith comes by hearing
and hearing the word of Christ,
the truth of God.
Your faith,
as you place your faith in Christ,
is not a blind faith.
It's not a launching out
into the dark
as if you don't have any access
to what's true at all.
You believe
because God has revealed things
to you to believe.
You believe
because you are convinced
that this Bible
is God's revelation to you
and it's reliable
as well as being authoritative.
And so,
when you come
to believe in Christ,
it's not a Jesus
you know nothing about.
It's not a Jesus
that's somehow
hiding in the shadows
from you
even though you can't
see Him physically.
He's not hiding
in some sort of
moral or spiritual shadow
that you can hardly make out.
He is actually revealed
in all His beauty
and His glory
as far as we can
actually follow it at least
in these wonderful pictures
of the gospel,
these descriptions,
these things that make up
the truth of God.
I know whom I have believed.
You embrace Christ
as He's offered
in the gospel
willingly
by the grace of God.
And always remember that
when somebody comes to you
and says,
you know,
I don't really think
you've got a ground
for believing
what you believe
or trusting in this Jesus
when you can't tell me
that you've actually seen Him
at any point.
No, but you actually say to Him,
well, I believe certain things
but I believe them
not just because
they're written
in the pages of the Bible
which I regard
as the truth of God.
I believe them
because I know Him
as well as what's written
in the Bible
and what's presented
in the gospel.
That's the second thing here
in terms of knowing Jesus.
There is a knowing
along with a believer.
You know what He's saying here?
He's saying,
I know
whom I have believed.
See, the apostle here
is not saying
I know what I have believed.
And he's not saying
I know what I believe
about Jesus.
He's not saying
I know things about God
and I believe these things
to be true.
He's saying
I know
whom I have believed.
I know this person.
I know this person
of Jesus for myself.
I don't just believe
blindly
and I don't just believe
because I've got a Bible
to believe.
I know
this person
that I believe in
and trust myself to.
That's what He's saying.
I know
whom
I have believed.
You see,
Paul
is on personal
terms
with this Jesus.
He's not
believing
in this person
because he knows
him as the founder
of a religion
that he respects
such as you find
in the major
world religions
of today
founded by
whether it's
Muhammad
or Buddha
or whoever else
it might have been
that have founded
or established
these great religions.
But they're gone.
They're dead.
They've passed
from the scene
of time.
They're no longer
living as
Jesus is living.
But here is Paul
saying,
I know
whom I have
believed.
I know
the one
that I've
placed my
trust and
confidence in.
I know
him
because he
is still
living.
Because he's
risen from
the dead.
Which is why
you find him
dealing so much
and so
foundationally
and so centrally
with the
resurrection
of Christ
from the dead.
He has brought
life
and immortality
to life
through his
resurrection.
And Paul
is saying,
I know
him.
God has
brought me
into a
living
relationship
with him.
I'm not
following a
dead founder
of a religion.
Nor am I
following the
gospel as a
mere system
of belief.
Such as you
might find
people following
a creed or
following a
system of
belief founded
by whoever
it is and
continuing to
actually follow
that kind of
system of
belief or
that creed
or other.
No, he says,
I'm not
following a
system.
I'm not
following a
religion.
I'm following
a person.
I believe
in this
living person.
I know
this living
person.
And really
that's how
you've got to
look at it
yourself.
What is it
that distinguishes
a person who
is a Christian
in a living
sense?
I'm not
talking about
a Christian
in the sense
of, you
might say,
the formal
sense because
you follow
the Christian
faith rather
than Islam
or Buddhism
or whatever.
Well, in a
sense, that
makes you a
Christian, of
course.
If you're
following the
Christian faith,
you're a
Christian in
that formal
outward sense.
What I'm
talking about
here is a
Christian in
the living
sense of
living in
dependence upon
Christ,
living in a
relationship that
you know is
live with
this living
person.
Is that
you?
Is that
you tonight?
Are you a
Christian through
knowing Christ?
You're surely
not just saying,
I'm a Christian
because I'm
different to a
Muslim, because I
follow the
teachings of the
Bible.
Wonderful.
That's so
important.
That's so
crucial to
you.
true.
But what makes
you a Christian
in the living
sense is that
you know
Jesus, that
you know Christ
for yourself,
that you know
he lives, that
you know he
has conquered
death, that
you know he
has forgiven
your sins, that
you know he's
your daily
companion, you
know whom you
have believed.
need.
And then he
says, and I
am convinced.
You see how it
grows out of
this knowing
of Christ.
He's saying, I'm
not ashamed, I
will not be put
to shame, I
will not be
shunned by
God, I will
not be rejected.
All of that
comes into what
he's saying, I'm
not ashamed.
It's not just a
feeling of being
ashamed.
In the New
Testament, being
ashamed is tied
up with being
rejected or being
judged and found
wanting.
that's not
going to happen
to me, saying, I'm
not ashamed and
I will not be
put to shame, for
I know whom I
have believed and
I am convinced.
You see, from his
knowing of Jesus, he
comes to be
convinced about
certain things,
about him, and
about the truth as
it is in him.
You might say
he's got an
assured
believing from
knowing Christ.
Now, you're to
ask Paul, well,
Paul, how can you
possibly be sure
about these
things?
How can you be
convinced about
things?
How can you
actually say that
this is, in
fact, certain
for you, and
that this is not
just the truth for
you, but it is
the truth?
Well, he says, I
know, I'm sure, I'm
convinced because I
know him, because I
know himself.
And when you
know himself, it
doesn't matter what
somebody says to
you and tries to
convince you
otherwise.
It doesn't matter
what doubts the
devil or somebody
else might try and
instill in your
mind.
It doesn't matter
how much somebody
might try to shake
your faith and
bring you back to
the kind of ideas
you find in the
world that tells
you you're stupid,
you're a fool to
believe something
you've never
verified scientifically
or whatever, I
know whom I have
believed.
I know himself.
That's why I'm
convinced.
I'm convinced
about these things
about him.
See, Paul, you
guys put it this
way, Paul is not
searching for the
truth.
This is one of the
great fallacies of
today, isn't it?
When you find people
who are established
churchmen sometimes
saying, you know,
you can't actually
possibly believe that
Christ is the only
way to God, that he
is the way, the truth
and the life, as
John's gospel puts
it.
You've got to have an
amalgamation and a
conglomeration of all
sorts of different
religious ideas and
it's as you weld these
together, as you
actually bring all of
that together and as
you walk along with
people who believe in
other systems of
belief and as you
join all that
together and as you
try and worship
together and engage
with each other, then
you're involved in a
search for the
truth.
You're involved in a
progress onwards until
eventually at some
point or other you're
going to come to the
truth hopefully.
Paul is saying,
nonsense,
rubbish.
I know the truth
because I know Jesus
Christ.
I know the truth
because I know the
Son of God who is
himself the embodiment
of the truth as he
came into this world to
reveal the truth of God
to us.
I know whom I have
believed.
Some people would say,
you know, that's really
being pretty arrogant,
isn't it?
I'm pretty arrogant
towards other faiths
or other systems of
belief.
If you're saying to me
tonight that,
and they might say to
you, if you're saying to
me tonight that Jesus
is exclusively the
Savior and the way to
know God and to come
into a living
relationship with God
and to have the
righteousness that God
requires of us and
live the kind of life
that God is pleased
with, how can you say
to me that only Jesus
can do that for you
or only through Jesus
can you come into
that relationship with
God?
Well, I can say that
because I know Jesus
and I know this is what
Jesus himself believed
and said.
Am I going to actually
trust the word of
someone whom I know
to be my Savior?
Or am I going to
simply say, well,
you know, we've got to
add to that, we've got
to change that in the
world in which we live.
We've got to add to that
other kinds of ideas
and especially as the
world has progressed
technologically in terms
of finding things out
and affirmations from
science as to how
things work and all
the rest of it.
It doesn't matter.
You don't have to
understand many of
these scientific
discoveries or how
the analysis is made
of life as you know
it in this world.
All you need is to
know him.
I know whom I have
believed.
Paul's not searching
for the truth.
He doesn't need to.
He knows that he's got
that in Christ.
He knows that what he
has in Christ is God's
supreme revelation of
himself.
He's the light of the
world.
He is himself the way,
the truth, and the life.
He is the resurrection
and the life.
He's all of the things
he claimed to be.
And although Paul
himself, of course,
was adamant at one
time that the last
thing in the world he
wanted was to give his
life over to this
Jesus, he regarded him
as a fraud, regarded
him as somebody who was
being peddled by his
followers as somehow or
other a representation of
God on earth until he
was making his way as an
enemy of Christ, to
Damascus with further
intentions in his mind to
cast more of the
followers of Jesus into
prison and so on.
And then he met with this
person.
He was arrested by this
Christ himself who turned
his life around and put
everything upside down for
him, or rather the right
way up for him.
And now he's saying, I
know whom I have
believed.
And all the things that I
once held on to as so
essential for earning the
favor of God, of coming to
gain God's approval, as he
says in Philippians chapter
3, I now count these as
worthless rubbish.
He's not being disparaging of
what he once believed in a
sense, but he is rejecting it
as the basis of his
acceptance with God.
I count him, he says, as
worthless so that I might
gain Christ and be found in
him and have the righteousness
as of God by him.
I know whom I have
believed.
You know, Paul would really
look out over those folks who
claim that Christ is not
enough, that you've got to add
to Jesus himself or to the
gospel where Jesus is set
forth as the Savior
exclusively.
People, as we said, will say
to you, that's really not
enough.
You've got to move ahead
nowadays.
You've got to progress.
What will Paul say to that?
Paul said to that, you've got
a big problem.
You've got a massive problem.
And the problem is you don't
know Jesus.
And you don't know Jesus as God's
exclusive, wonderful, sufficient
Savior of sinners.
So here's for me the question
tonight.
Do I know Jesus?
Have I been standing in pulpits
for well over 30 years and still
don't know him for myself?
I hope not.
I trust not.
I believe not.
Do you know him?
Do you know him as your living
companion?
Are you in a daily conversation
with him?
Do you know him in such a way as
would say, you know, if everything
else was taken out of my life, and
that's a very difficult thing to
say, I would still have Jesus and
my life would be secure.
I know whom I have believed, says
the apostle.
And for you and for me, it's not
just a matter of believing in
Christ, believing God's word,
believing what it says there about
him.
Believing means a knowing of him,
a coming to live in a living
relationship with him, where you
have, as Paul himself had,
personal terms with Christ
every day.
I know whom I have believed.
But then he says, and I am
convinced, rising out of that
relationship that he has with
Christ, this knowledge that he has
of Christ, he's saying I am
convinced that he is able to guard
until that day what has been
entrusted to me.
Now, I've said that personally I
prefer the old AV rendering of it
there.
It's perfectly possible
grammatically to render it either
way, either like this.
He's able to guard what has been
entrusted to me, by which the
translators here have been really,
their view is that he's talking
about the gospel, the message of
Christ.
Whereas the AV took it in the other
way that, again, is possible
grammatically.
I am convinced, he says, that he
is able to guard what I have
entrusted to him.
And you see it's, you find later
on there the verse 14, by the Holy
Spirit who dwells within us, he's
saying to Timothy, guard the good
deposit entrusted to you.
And I think it's from that that this
translation itself has come to
translate it this way, to guard what
has been entrusted to me.
Now, do you see, verse 14 there is
really saying the Holy Spirit who
dwells in us, you, Timothy, guard the
good deposit entrusted to you.
But what he's saying here in verse
12 is it's something that he has
entrusted to Christ, something that
Christ is going to look after.
It's not Timothy who's looking after
it here, it's Christ who's looking
after what he says here in verse 12.
It's literally in the Greek text of
all it says is he's able to guard the
deposit.
My deposit.
And what is this deposit?
Well, I believe it's better taking it
as Paul speaking about entrusting
himself, his life, his apostleship,
his present, his future.
After all, he's talking here about
death being imminent.
He's not far away from the end of his
course in this life.
And he's encouraging Timothy to
continue to trust in this God and to
continue to entrust himself to Jesus
because he says, I know whom I have
believed and I am convinced that he
is able to guard, to keep until that
day what I have entrusted to him, what I
have given over to him to be secure in
him.
In other words, it's Paul's own, if you
take it that way, he means his own life.
He means his person.
That's what he's deposited in Christ's
hands.
And so that's really, in a sense, what
fits in with many references in the
Bible to God being a refuge.
And 1 Peter, for example, chapter 4, which
is a letter really, as you know, that's
written largely to suffering Christians,
persecuted Christians.
In chapter 4, the last verse there, he
says, therefore, let those who suffer
according to God's will entrust their
souls to a faithful creator while
doing good.
He's talking about entrusting themselves
to this living Savior.
And that's how we're taking these words
of Paul to Timothy as well.
I am convinced, I am persuaded, I am
fully convinced that he is able to guard,
to look after everything that I've placed
in his hand, including myself, until
that day.
So really, your faith, your living
relationship with Jesus is not just, of
course, a formal assent to his truth.
It is, as we said, knowing Jesus in a
personal relationship.
But it's also in the actings of your
faith.
And it's not just once and for all.
It's really on an everyday, ongoing
basis.
It's entrusting yourself to Jesus.
Isn't that how you begin every day?
That you actually pray, Lord, please
look after my life again.
I'm placing myself in your hands.
And as I place myself in your hands,
Lord, whatever happens on this day,
look after me.
Guard me.
Keep me.
Be my guard.
My guardian.
Be the one who looks after me as I
entrust myself to you.
Entrustman to a person.
And there's the question again for
yourself and for myself.
Is that how you find your own life?
You know the gospel.
You know the Bible.
You know the message of the gospel.
You know other Christians in this place
tonight and elsewhere.
But here is the question following on
from do you know him yourself,
for yourself?
Have you entrusted your life to him?
Have you given over your life
to this Jesus to be your Lord
as well as your Savior?
Have you deposited, if you like,
to use the words of the apostle here,
this deposit, my deposit?
I have entrusted my deposit to him.
Have you deposited your own life
into the hands of Jesus?
There are few questions
as important as that in your life.
This is why, friends,
God has given us the gospel.
Not so that we would have
a mere intellectual knowledge
of who Jesus is
and what Jesus has done.
Wonderful though that is.
It's so that
we will be persuaded
that we need this Jesus
as our own personal Savior.
And that knowing that we need this Jesus
by the grace of God,
by the power of his Spirit,
we will deposit our lives
into his hand.
We will entrust ourselves to him
to look after us
all the way through life
and into eternity itself.
And let me say to the young folks
here tonight,
you don't think of yourself
as too young to do this.
I don't know if you've still
got a bank account.
Some of you probably have.
But if you have,
you know what you do
when you have a savings account.
You deposit some money in that.
And you expect the bank
to look after it for you
and not lose your money.
Then you can withdraw it
whenever you want.
You can go
and take some money out of it.
But you've left it in the bank.
You've put it there.
You've deposited it there
for safekeeping.
That's what Paul is saying
about himself.
He has put himself
in the hands of Jesus
for safekeeping.
And what he's saying is
when you do that,
your life is safe.
You can't guarantee
whether you're young or old
in this life.
You can't guarantee
that everything will turn out well
just by hoping for the best.
Paul is saying here
he's able to guard this deposit
until that day.
What I have entrusted to him,
he's going to look after it
until that day.
And by that he means
the day of Christ's return.
The day of judgment.
The day when Jesus
comes back to this world.
What a momentous day
that's going to be.
We must all,
as Paul says to the Corinthians
in his second epistle,
we must all appear
before the judgment seat
of Christ
that we may all receive
the things done in this body
whether good or evil.
Paul doesn't need to be afraid
that somehow or other things
are not going to turn out well
for him on that day
because he has entrusted
his life to Jesus,
because Jesus is looking
after it for him,
because he's put himself
in the hands of Christ,
because that's where
the deposit of his life is.
He is safe.
Nothing's going to actually
change that.
The only way that can change
is somehow or other
God the Father
finds something wrong
with Jesus.
And that's never going to happen.
And there's your
wonderful assurance tonight
that however weak
you might say
your own faith is
and however many times
you fail the Lord,
however many times
you know that you've not
been as you should be,
you've not done
what you should have done,
or you've done things
you shouldn't have done,
you're conscious
that you sin against God
every day,
that you need his forgiveness,
all of that is there.
But if you've entrusted
your life to Christ,
he's looking after
everything for you.
Your life is secure.
you've made your deposit.
You've deposited yourself
into his hands.
Now is that
your outlook tonight?
Is that how your life
is situated?
Is that what's
underneath your present
and your future?
It's Jesus himself.
F.B. Meyer,
who was a Baptist minister
in England
from the mid-1800s,
he died, I think,
in 1929.
But in his writings,
he gives the following
account of two Germans
who wanted to climb
the Matterhorn,
and you know
the Matterhorn mountain
itself,
one of the big mountains
in Europe,
a very steep mountain,
very icy in parts of it.
Well,
there were two Germans
who wanted to climb
the Matterhorn,
so they hired
three guides,
and the three guides
would take them,
they hoped,
safely up the Matterhorn
as far as they could
at least.
And very soon,
they reached the steepest
and the most slippery
part of that mountain,
and they had roped
themselves together
in this order.
First of all,
a guide went ahead,
then a traveler,
then a guide,
then a traveler,
and then a third guide
at the end,
at the rear.
As they went up the mountain,
the one bringing up the rear,
there the last man,
actually lost his footing
and slipped.
But he was able to hang on
because the others had
little toe holes in the ice
that they were climbing up
the ice wall.
They had toe holes in the ice,
so they were able to
hold tight
the weight of this man
until he regained his footing.
But then there came a moment
when those ahead of that man
also lost their footing.
And they pulled down
everyone ahead of them
except the guide
who was going
at the head
of the procession,
of the climb.
And he stood firm
because he had driven
his spike
deep into the ice.
And so all of those
who were coming after him
were depending on that
spike holding,
which it did.
And they were able again
to regain their footing
because this one guide,
the guide at the front,
had the spike deep
in the ice
and was able to hold
things steady
until they recovered.
And this is what
F.B. Meyer said,
I am like one of those men
who slipped.
But thank God
I am bound
in a living partnership
to Christ.
And because
he stands,
I will never
perish.
May God bless
his word to us.
Let's
sing to his praise
in Psalm 73.
Psalm 73,
page 316,
verses 23 to 26.
Nevertheless,
continually,
O Lord,
I am with thee.
Thou dost me hold
by my right hand
and still
upholdest me.
Thou with thy counsel
while I live
will me conduct
and guide
and to thy glory
afterward
receive me
to abide.
So 23 to 26
of Psalm 73.
Psalm 73.
Thou dost me hold
by my right hand
and still upholdest me.
Thou with thy counsel
while I live
will be conduct
and guide
and to thy glory
afterward
and to thy glory
afterward
receive me
whom I desire
to abide.
Thou have
have
died
in the heaven's
night
but thee,
O Lord,
our Lord,
and in the air
whom I desire
and in the air
whom I desire
besides thee
there is none.
my flesh
and heart
doth
faint
and fail
but
what
doth
fail
me
never
for
God
for
love
my heart
God
is
the
strength
and
love
my heart
God
is
the
strength
and
portion
for
heaven.
forever
I'll go to the main door after the benediction.
the benediction.
Lord, our gracious God, we pray that you would bless your word to us once again.
We ask also that you would bless to us the preparation made for us for our bodily needs of the fellowship.
We thank you for that food prepared.
We pray that you would bless Jackie as he gives an account of his own spiritual experience and his testimony to your grace in his life.
And we ask that you would uphold him and bless Scott too as he leads the meeting.
And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore. Amen.
Thank you.