6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Introduction
In the Presbyterian Journal, John Jeske said, “If the Christian church today is losing its influence, the reason may very well be that the church consists of soft pews, soft music, and soft soap.”
We must always avoid the temptation to so water down or weaken the message of Jesus Christ that it no longer has a sting or an impact to it. We must not be ashamed of the old-fashioned story of man’s need and God’s answer to that need, which was the suffering of Jesus Christ upon the cross, his death for our sins, and his resurrection. There is always the danger that we shall be apologetic about the Gospel, or that we shall be ashamed of the Gospel. It’s not a new thing. Timothy faced that danger, so Paul was writing to him in this second letter to encourage him and to spur him on in God’s work.
Timothy had many wonderful traits and attributes. He had had excellent training. He had a godly heritage. He had had a close fellowship with the apostle Paul. He had a knowledge of the word of God. He had a good reputation among the churches, and he had a great heart, but Timothy had a weak backbone. He was not cast into the heroic role as was the apostle Paul. When the going got tough, Timothy drew back and he ceased to assert himself, to preach the Gospel, and to be as bold and as aggressive as he ought to. So Paul wrote to him to tell him not to be afraid, but to preach the Gospel boldly. Timothy had every reason to be afraid. He had seen the apostle Paul beaten and bruised and bleeding outside the city of Lystra for preaching the Gospel.
At that very moment that Timothy read these words, Paul was in prison in Rome for preaching the Gospel. Timothy knew that his Master, the Lord Jesus, had died on that old rugged cross just outside Jerusalem. When he thought about Jesus dying, and about Paul being in prison and being bruised for the Gospel, Timothy tended to shrink back from that, and Paul was writing to say to him, “Timothy, don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Don’t be ashamed of me. Be willing to take your part of the suffering that comes along with the Gospel of Jesus.”
What is the Gospel? The word gospel means good news, and the good news is this: Jesus Christ is the Savior. Jesus died for our sins. In him and through him we can be right with God. We can have everlasting life. Jesus died on the cross. Jesus was buried in the tomb. Christ was raised from the dead on the third day. He is alive now. That’s the good news.
Men can be right with God. Men can have abundant life now, and life everlasting in the years to come. Paul says to him, “Don’t be ashamed of that.” There are a lot of things we ought to be ashamed of. We ought to be ashamed of our half-hearted devotion to Christ. We ought to be ashamed of our weak, watered-down faith. We ought to be ashamed of the inconsistent lives that we live. We ought to be ashamed of our timidity in witnessing for Christ.
We ought to be ashamed of our lack of faithfulness in Bible study and prayer and in worship. We ought to be ashamed of a lot of things. But friends, you don’t ever need to be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It is the way men are saved. It is the way lives are transformed. It is the way homes are made new again. Don’t ever be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As Paul is urging Timothy to not be ashamed, to be strong, to be courageous in his preaching and teaching, he helps us to understand what the Gospel is all about.
He says three things about the Gospel that we need to underscore in our minds. First of all, he says that it is a gospel of grace. Second, it is a gospel of life. And third, it is a gospel of assurance. It is because it is the Gospel of grace, and the Gospel of life, and the Gospel of assurance that we ought never ever to be ashamed of it.
1. It is the Gospel of grace (v.9).
Paul talks about Jesus who has saved us and called us with a holy calling—not according to works, but according to his own purpose and grace that was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. If you look at it logically, there are only two ways for a man to be saved in most religions. He can be saved by his good works or by God’s grace. He can be saved by his own merit or by God’s mercy.
The basis of every world religion is that man is saved by his good works. That man merits his salvation. By being good, by being religious, by going through rituals and ceremonies and rights—by all that man does, he earns his favor with God. That’s the basis of every world religion except Christianity. Down through the years there have been those who have lost sight of the very heart and core of our faith, and they also have tried to make works a part of salvation. They have tried to make works a part of being right with God. Paul discards that idea once and for all when he says that we have been called with a holy calling, not according to our works. If you are trying to earn favor with God, forget it. If you are trying to merit your way into the kingdom of God, stop wasting your time. Salvation is not of works.
It is of grace. He called us with a holy calling not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. What does grace mean? The Greek word literally means “graciousness,” and it has reference to graciousness of God, the kindness of God, the love of God, and the mercy of God. We are saved by God’s graciousness and goodness and kindness—not by what we do.
Let me illustrate a true story. A man I know when he was just a boy lived near one of those old-timey neighborhood grocery stores. As a boy he was in that grocery store every day. He knew the owner and those working in the store very well. One day he stole some pencils. It didn’t amount to very much—maybe 25 cents. Just three, four, or five pencils, and he didn’t need them. It was just one of those childish acts. In fact he took them home and buried them in the yard.
When his dad found out (and dads usually do find out), he made the boy take those pencils back to the grocery store and present them to his friend who owned it. The boy was to not only return the pencils, but give the owner the money for those pencils as well. It just so happened that this was on the boy’s birthday. The owner of the store knew the boy so well that he knew it was his birthday.
The boy walked in with great reluctance, but it was something that had to be done. He told the man what he had done. He handed him the pencils and he handed him the money for the pencils also. The owner of the store looked at him for a long time and didn’t say anything of reprimand, or anything to scold him. He just took the money and gave it right back to him and said, “Happy birthday, son.”
How wasn’t that a gracious thing to do? Wasn’t that a merciful and kind thing to do? The boy had done wrong, and he deserved at least a reprimand. He deserved to be scolded. Instead the man who was his friend gave him a birthday gift.
That is a picture of the graciousness, the kindness, and the mercy of God. God does not deal with us according to our merits. He deals with us according to his mercy. He does not save us because we deserve it. He saves us in spite of what we deserve. And when we think of the salvation that is ours through the Gospel, we must know that it is the Gospel of grace. God loves us so much that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It is a gospel of grace.
2. It is the Gospel of life (v.10).
In verse 10 he tells us that this grace of God has been made manifest by the appearance of our Savior Jesus Christ. A lot of people don’t understand the relationship between God and Christ. One little boy said, “God is the one who puts us down and Jesus is the one who lifts us up.” But that is not right.
God loves us with an everlasting love, and Jesus is the one who came to make that love known. Jesus came to manifest, to reveal, to bring out in the open, and to show the love of God. Jesus made God’s love and grace known by his life, his ministry, and his death upon the cross.
Look at what Paul says. He says that Christ abolished death. That word abolish means to bring to naught. It means to render powerless. Jesus came to cancel the power of death. When we become Christians we don’t and we can’t escape death, but we can prepare for it, and we no longer need to be terrorized by it. We don’t have to be afraid of it. It has lost its sting, its dread, and its terror for us, for Jesus has brought it to naught. He has rendered it powerless over us. Death is not going to win.
He also brought life and immortality out into the light. That word life means more than just existence. You know a lot of people who are existing but they aren’t living. Life suggests joy, meaning, purpose, and happiness, and Jesus came that we might have life with all of that, and have it more abundantly.
He came to bring immortality. That means the imperishable life. The word mortal means “subject to death.” We have morticians in our community. They are literally doctors of death. They take care of the dead. We have mortuaries—a place where the dead are kept. But Jesus has brought imperishable life to us. Because of Jesus Christ we can now live until we die and then we can live forever. We don’t have to be afraid of anything that death might do to us, because Jesus Christ has brought all of that out into the light, and now we can see and know our hope.
O. Henry, the famous short-story writer, was dying. His nurse surmised that death was coming very soon, and so as was the custom in that day, she reached up to pull the shades down and leave the room dark. O. Henry opened his eyes as if he were aware of what was going on and he said to her, “Push up the shades. I don’t want to go home in the dark.”
Because of Jesus, no one has to go home in the dark. Jesus brought it all out in the light and he said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25). You don’t have to be afraid. There is no darkness out there. As David Redding said, “Death did something terrible to Jesus. But not everyone knows that Jesus did something wonderful to death. For Jesus not only endured death, Jesus conquered death. He defeated death. He came out of the grave alive.”
That means that because of the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the punch line of the New Testament is not a tragic cry for help. It is a triumphant shout, “Hallelujah! Christ is alive and we shall live also.” It is the Gospel of life.
3. It is the Gospel of assurance (v.12).
Paul said this Gospel that comes by the grace of God brings life with it. He said, “I’ve been appointed as a preacher. That’s why I’m suffering, and I’m not ashamed of it. For I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.” He is saying it is a gospel of assurance also.
I want you to look at five powerful words of assurance in that verse. The word know means “to have absolute and settled knowledge.” The word persuaded means “to be in a fixed immovable position.” The word able means “to have power.” The word keep is a military term that means “to guard, to stand watch over, or to protect.” The word committed is a banking term. It means “to make a deposit for safekeeping.” Paul says, “There was a time when I made a deposit with God. I deposited my soul and my eternal salvation with him. I know and have absolute and settled knowledge. I stand on this and I cannot be budged from it.”
I want you to notice not only those five powerful words of assurance. Martin Luther said that the heart and the core of Christianity are found in the personal pronouns. I want you to notice the pronouns in this verse. “I know whom I have believed.” He is not saying “I know what I have believed.” There is a difference in believing in something and believing in someone. I know whom—it’s a personal pronoun—I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him. It’s not about believing in ideas, but believing in him, trusting him, and relying upon him.
In 1736 John Wesley entered in his journal an account of going to German pastors to ask them some questions concerning his conduct. One of those German pastors said, “My brother, I must first ask you a question or two. The first question is this: Have you the witness of the Spirit within yourself? Does the Spirit bear witness with your spirit that you know the Son of God?” Wesley had never thought about that before. He had nothing to say. He paused for a while, and while he was pausing this man said to him a second time, “Do you know Jesus Christ?” Wesley paused again. He said, “I know that he is the Savior of the world.” The man said, “True, but do you know that he has saved you?”
That’s the crucial question. We all know that Jesus is the Savior of the world, but do you know that he saved you? Can you say with the apostle Paul, “I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day”?
Until we bring those personal pronouns into our experience with God, and until we know him, trust him, and walk with him, there is no assurance. But once we do, we know that we are saved and we are forever his.
That’s the Gospel. It’s a gospel of grace, a gospel of life, and a gospel of assurance. I’m here to tell you that the Gospel—the good news—is worthy of your faith and trust. It is worthy of your defense. It is worthy of your suffering. It is worthy of your preaching. We need to give ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ who came to make the good news real, and we need to pay the price that is necessary that others may know that Gospel also.