Open—H. Brinkmann, D. Jaeger
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Oh, Lord Dom, Now are seated above the heavens on high the gracious work completed, for which thou came to die so forth, Number 86.
And with our hearts, I mean.
God.
But I'm just going to sleep.
If.
I'm gracious about grace. Come on.
To second Timothy.
Chapter One.
Most of us here.
I'm sure have heard.
That the first epistle to Timothy.
Presents the church in order.
The Second Epistle of Timothy.
Shows the church.
The public profession in disorder.
And they are valuable instructions in that epistle.
But what is especially?
Of interest is that while it shows the sad condition in the Christian profession.
There are many things in that epistle that the individual can enjoy.
In spite of this condition, and that is especially on my heart this afternoon.
You know we have two beloved Saints of God admit.
That we are part of the divided state of the Christian profession. We cannot divorce ourselves from it.
And I would even go so far as to say we are part of the divided state.
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Of so-called brethren, that which God raised up.
175 or so years ago.
We cannot divorce ourselves from that either. We have to even admit beloved Saints of God that we have contributed to that condition.
But I'm not trying to dwell on that side of things so much, but dwell on that which is given to us to encourage us in the midst of the ruin. Even in the Old Testament, we find that those who were faithful among God's people in the midst of ruin, they found grace to go on for the Lord.
How they could? How could they go on for the Lord in the midst of ruin, if they would not have?
In measure in India, enjoyment of Jehovah and the privileges that they had as being part of a people who in general were in a sad state, and they found grace in the midst of that state to work, walk for God.
You know, there are many young people in this audience.
And I can see that when they see the ruin.
That exists, and sometimes even disharmony and various ideas as to principles, even amongst the gathered things.
That they might become discouraged, but let's emphasize and dwell on the things in First Timothy that encourage us in the midst of ruin. We read in verse one of chapter one.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according.
To the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.
Has the promise of life changed, beloved Saints of God? It's the same, isn't it?
We still can enjoy that life that was promised long before, and now we can enjoy.
The promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. We still have him.
And in him we have that life. He that has the Son has life.
To Timothy, my dearly beloved son.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Is it not available for us beloved Saints of God, the grace and mercy?
And peace that God can give us to be enjoyed in our souls in the midst of all the sad condition. Roundabout, yes, we can still enjoy that.
What's the difference between grace and mercy?
Mercy doesn't give us what we deserve, and grace gives us what we don't deserve.
God is merciful to us, and His mercy and grace is available.
For us.
And the peace. Not only can we enjoy peace with God, but the peace of God can be enjoyed.
That's what was characteristic of our Blessed Lord as He went through this world.
He had peace in his soul, happy communion with his father.
How much was round about him? That would tend to discourage him.
But the peace of God was in his heart, and we can enjoy peace.
I thank God.
Whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience.
That without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayer night and day. It's an amazing statement, isn't it? That he served got rid of pure conscience.
Even when he was opposing that which was dearest to God.
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In his conscience, he thought that he was doing God a service.
What we learned from this beloved young people is that conscience is not a guide.
The conscience has to be enlightened by the word of God. I don't have any conscience against these people might say or it doesn't trouble my conscience. Maybe your conscience is an exercise by the word of God, just like with Paul. But when that light.
Penetrated that conscience that struck him down, and it led to repentance.
But.
He also remembered Timothy.
He had a fellow servant in Timothy.
He calls him his son.
Isn't it a pleasure, dear brethren, when we find young brothers and sisters in Christ that mean business?
For the Lord, it's a tremendous enjoyment to me when I ever come across.
Young people that mean business for the Lord.
You can, as young people, be what Timothy was for Paul to some of your older brethren.
You know, we might need that kind of an encouragement.
I don't think I go too far, do I in making that application?
But Paul?
Prayed for him.
Night and day we can do that for each other, beloved Saints of God.
Greatly desiring to see thee.
Mindful of died tears that I may be filled with joy. It wasn't just that Paul had love for Timothy. He knew of Timothy's love for Paul, and that Paul knew that Timothy missed Paul.
When I call to remembrance.
The unfriend faith that was indeed.
Which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice.
And I am persuaded that indeed also.
Beloved Saints, we can have unfeigned faith.
In the midst of the circumstances in which we find ourselves, what is unfeigned, nothing put on real faith.
Not pretense. And how wonderful young people you many of you are in the same position that Timothy was in.
You had a grandmother and a mother.
Who were characterized by unfeigned faith.
And hopefully it will also become your portion. It cannot be passed on.
Spiritual things and faith cannot be passed on like material things.
But what an example?
Our parents and grandparents have been to us.
My mother.
Wonderful.
I owe her more than anybody else in this world.
Is it in vain that you have had such a mother and such a grandmother? Such a grandfather, such a father?
Now I used to think.
That Timothy's mother marrying a Greek.
That that was not faithful on her part, but my wife one time when I questioned that or expressed that, she questioned that, she said. At that time, did Timothy's mother really have any choice?
You know, I've been in countries in the world where marriages are arranged.
Where the girl has no choice.
That was probably the situation here.
But the father most likely arranged it for her.
But the mother went on in faith and was able to be a source of blessing to her son.
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Therefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is indeed by the putting on of my hand. Timothy, In spite of the condition in which you find yourself, you have a gift.
Dear brothers and sisters, dear sisters, God is still giving gifts today.
Maybe when you realize the condition you tend to be discouraged and you say what's the use, Why I should, why should I use what the God, what God has given me?
Bob might excuse me for quoting his brother Don.
He gave this explanation.
He said in First Timothy. Paul says do not neglect your gift.
Here in two Timothy, he says. Stir it up.
He says. When you're in an assembly where there are good circumstances, faithful brethren, good conditions, spiritually speaking, a young person might say, well, why should I open up my mouth? There are all these capable men.
And Paul has to tell Timothy, Don't neglect your gift. Of course, it wouldn't be nice and wouldn't be proper, would it? If.
A young man.
Would try to take over.
And ignore the fact that there are other older brethren, and he might well give them a chance to express themselves first. But don't neglect the gift. But here, now, when there are bad circumstances, it takes more spiritual energy. Stir it up. That was Dan's explanation. I like that.
Maybe we have to stir it up. There's nobody that is without a gift, according to.
Ephesians.
The gift might vary, and it does vary. Thank God it varies. I'm not expected to do everything. Neither are you expected to everything. That's why the Lord gives different things to get to different ones. And hopefully we can complement each other. What the one cannot do, the other can do.
But we all have a gift.
And while the ladies do not and are not expected to use that gift in public.
But Scripture speaks of even in the New Testament, the daughters of Philip prophesied right.
That didn't do it in the assembly.
And who did Apollos benefit from?
That couple. That godly couple.
Equivalent. Priscilla took him in and they taught him the way more perfectly. Priscilla is included in that in the home sphere.
In the leadership or under the leadership of her husband, she evidently was even the source of help to a palace.
Older sisters should teach the younger sisters.
Yes.
You might not know.
Early in life, what it is that the Lord has entrusted you with. We received the young man a few years back, and when we talked to him, I said, Conrad, you might not at this point know what your responsibility and the assembly is, but we're receiving you as a member of the body of Christ. That means a functioning member.
Hopefully the Lord will come to make you realize where you fit in and then fill your place as the Lord enables you in humility to go on.
Yes, we are all functioning members in the body of Christ. What troubles me is that at the conferences.
Who do who are the ones that have to pray?
Or even participate during the breaking of bread, those that we classify as the Lord's servant. What about the bread on back there? I was glad there were some that read this morning way in the back there, you know.
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The exercise of the priesthood is universal. That's not the exercise of gift.
And every St. is a priest.
Yes, but we all have gifts, and hopefully we will be exercised before the Lord What that gift is, have him show it to us, and then find grace to exercise that gift for the glory of the Lord Jesus and the blessing of God's people, or the lost if it is evangelization.
For God has not given us.
Or the gift Was anybody putting on of my hands?
In the first epistle, it is the laying on of the hands of the.
Presbytery the leaders. Here's by Paul. Apparently a prophecy had been given as to Timothy. Maybe it was through Paul and Paul laid his hand on Timothy and had part in this. We don't expect some individual to have that kind of a position today, but we can lay our hands on somebody that the Lord raises up.
We can have fellowship. That's what the laying of on of hands means.
Have fellowship with such.
Should we not desire that fellowship?
And maybe if I think that I have something that I do not have from the Lord, maybe my brethren have to be faithful to me and say hi, and you're trying to do something that the Lord didn't give you to do, and I better listen to my brethren.
We desire, do we not, the fellowship of our brethren?
God has not given us the spirit of fear.
But of power and of love, and of a sound mind. Yes, beloved brethren that is still available for us today, that's the same spirit that he has given to us.
We do not have the power of performing great miracles.
But it takes the power of God in any of us to do anything for God. We have no strength of our own, no wisdom of our own, but how wonderful and how encouraging these things are.
And of a sound mind or wise discretion.
Is Mr. Darby's rendering.
But then, now, Timothy, don't be ashamed of the testimony.
Of our Lord It's the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner.
You know when you think of how few.
I really, truly gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
That might lead some to become discouraged.
Brother Smith.
Was told by somebody in Bolivia. Why don't you join us?
There are so many more.
His answer was Could you have more of Christ with the many than we with the few?
Don't be ashamed of the testimony just because of this week and feeble.
And perhaps even imperfect.
Don't be ashamed. If it is the Lord's testimony, it's His testimony, and we should not be ashamed of it. We might be ashamed of our conduct within the testimony, but we should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. You see, some people, they might well have said we Paul is in prison because he was unfaithful and trying to discredit Paul.
And even what Paul stood for.
Don't be ashamed of the testimony, nor of me his prisoner. Paul looked himself as being the prisoner none of the Romans, but of the Lord Jesus.
And then be thou partaker of the affliction of the gospel according to the power of God.
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Afflictions are connected with presenting the gospel or the truth of God today.
Don't shrink from it.
We find in Chapter 2 Endure Hardness.
As a soldier, when I was a young man, a brother told me, Heinz, don't be surprised if you're in the front line if people shoot at you.
Don't be surprised if they shoot at you.
We are too into hardness.
We ought to be willing to.
Suffer affliction.
According to the power of God, he is able to help us even in such circumstances who has saved us and called us?
With an holy calling again, Brother Don, I heard him say.
In Timothy, when the divided state of God's testimony is presented.
We are reminded that Our Calling is holy. Why? Because we tend to lower the standards, beloved things.
And change even the principle to adopt things that the Scriptures very plainly teach to be wrong.
Remember, Our Calling is a holy calling.
In Hebrews, it's a heavenly calling.
Because they were reminded that their blessings were no longer on earth, it was in heaven.
And in Philippians calling on high.
Wonderful, but the gospel is used by God to bring us to himself and.
He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose of and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
That's a tremendous statement. Get ahold of it.
That which we received through the gospel was actually given to us, assured to us before the world was yes.
God knew that I would come into existence in 19130 before the world was, and he says I want that Heinz to be mine.
And by him.
Picking me out.
Salvation was assured to me.
For you, if you're saved, it was given to us before the world was.
Time is no problem with God.
You know, and all my sins.
In order to bring me to himself in righteousness, when was it dealt with?
Almost 2000 years ago.
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, God, as the hymn writer says, knew it, 'cause who knew them my sins laid them on him.
On the cross and believing I'm free, then I come into the good of it.
By accepting it by faith. But why do I have faith? Why do you have faith?
Can you post of it over those who don't have faith? It's the gift of God. Ephesians chapter 2. By grace are we saved through faith? This is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. Not only the grace, that faith is a gift of God.
I talked to an orthopedic surgeon, a relative of my son-in-law, and some of his children are safe.
And he wanted to talk to me privately, so we went aside, he said. I just cannot believe.
Well, I said, if you really want to believe, why don't you ask God to give you the faith to believe? Would he not give you the faith?
By grace are we safe through faith? It's not of ourselves. It is the gift of God.
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But how wonderful, how can I can you and I not enjoy that that that was given to us before the world was, God assured it to us before the world was.
But it is now manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has brought incorruptibility. It should read to light through the gospel.
What a wonderful fact it is that we live at this time.
In the world's history, after the work of the cross is accomplished and the spirit is given, and.
That it has been manifested what was in the heart of God, the fullest extent of His love, manifested in the giving of his Son, and when he died on the cross, and what He wanted.
Us to be brought into.
It has been manifested.
He has abolished death and brought incorruptibility to life through the Gospel.
Even if we die.
You know that dear girl.
Caroline Hadley, Beautiful young lady.
With the Lord Jesus.
Is that a terrible thing that had happened? Very painful, no doubt, for the family, the relatives.
Could you wish anything better for her?
Death is not the king of terror for the believer. It's a servant that ushers the believer into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Although we die, the Lord Jesus said we shall live.
The soul goes on living in the presence of the Lord Jesus. The body sleeps and it is only used as to the body of the believer in the New Testament as sleeping, not for the unbeliever. And then it will be raised and be reunited with the soul. And then we will stand or be forever with the Lord Jesus. But have you noticed? Somebody quoted?
Revelation The Judgment Seat of the Great White Throne. Judgment those who stand there, although they're raised.
That isn't spoken of as being alive.
The dead shall be stand there, and then when they are cast into hell, it says, This is the second death.
When Adam sinned.
That day he would sin, he would die. People say, well, he didn't die. He lived a long time after he sinned. He died that very day because death is presented in two ways, Alienation from God.
And in Ephesians that says of us Gentiles dead in sins and trespasses.
And the wonderful grace of God can make us who are dead, spiritually speaking, alive. But even when those who have died in unbelief are raised, they're not spoken of as being alive. The dead stand there, and then they're cast into hell. That's the second death, eternal separation from God.
We who were spiritually dead in sins and trespasses, by the grace of God, have been made alive, have been quickened.
But there is no such chance for those who are cast into the lake of fire. That's the second death. But.
For us death, where is thy sting? Death, where is thy victory?
We don't have to be afraid of it. He has abolished death.
And brought incorruptibility to light through the gospel. We shall not all die. Some of us will not go through death. And maybe most of us in this audience who know the Lord Jesus will go through a change.
And don't have to die. We won't have to corrupt in the grave as the bodies of those who have gone through death. He has abolished it.
And Paul was appointed a preacher.
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And brought this gospel before souls.
What a joy it was for him to do so.
We might not all be evangelists, but isn't it a joy for us when we have an opportunity of telling of the love and grace of God to somebody who isn't saved? And although we might not claim to have the gift of an evangelist, but what joy does it bring to the soul when we were able to be of little help to somebody that comes to know the Lord Jesus?
And then the service of Paul.
He had committed it unto God.
You know, we find that many turned away from him.
But.
I'm 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 that has to do with his service.
He has committed it unto him against that day. But then.
Hold fast.
Hold fast the form of sound words or.
Have an outline of truth.
You cannot hold fast dear young people and dear brothers and sisters, anything you don't have. The challenge is, do you have something that you can hang on to? Do you have an outline of truth? Of sound words?
And Timothy had heard it.
Saint Paul. We still can hear it from Paul when we read the Epistles.
But the Lord also has raised up men that taught us.
And.
What we bring before the Saints today, Where have we learned it?
We didn't dig it out of the scriptures all by ourselves.
We learned it from others.
But I trust what we learned was.
Sound words, not fanciful interpretations.
Novel interpretations, sound words, the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me by faith.
And love, which is in Christ Jesus. You can really hold it only for God and for the glory of God.
Through faith and love.
That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit is not only given to us to give us the understanding and enjoyment of the truth, but also to hold it and to keep it.
In the power of an ungrieved spirit we can lay hold of these things and also keep it.
That he dwells in us. That's what makes you a mere Christian. That makes us different from.
Any other believer that ever lived before that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
No Old Testament Saints ever possessed that he came upon, but could also leave a believer. But the Lord Jesus says this to us. He would come, and she shall dwell with you and in you.
And then there were those in Asia that had turned away from the apostle Paul.
And he gives the names.
When Don and I were in Belawi.
The first time there had been some men that used to be in fellowship with us.
And separated cost of division and they took advantage of the fact.
That Brother John Camp and Art Swansick had had contact with Brethren over there and when they got there they the division had occurred and they didn't tell them that they were no longer in fellowship with John Kemp and Art Swansic and Brother Don read these verses also referring to the people mentioned in chapter two. He said we don't.
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Enjoy pointing out the names of those that oppose the truth or have given it up, but sometimes has called us here he had to mention them by name.
But then there was a man.
That was different on a Sephora.
For he OFT refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain.
How wonderful. Don't you want to be an honest Sephora that will encourage the servants of the Lord instead of turning away from the truth that they present?
None of us claims to be in the position the Apostle Paul was in, but hopefully what we bring is the truth of God.
And if you turn away from what I present to be the truth of God, it isn't that you're turning away from me, you're turning away from the truth.
That's the seriousness. But with Paul they turned away from him, and what he stood for, and his teaching. But on a Sephora, how wonderful the Lord grant unto him that he might find mercy of the Lord in that day.
And in how many things he ministered unto me in Ephesus thou knowest very well. Well we find then that in chapter 2 There is another in verse 1A tremendous statement that can be an encouragement to us. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in their grace, that is, in Christ Jesus.
Grace is not only that, we're saved.
But we can also be strong in the grace.
And what does we what do we read in Titus? It teaches us how to live godly.
It's not just that we are supposed to be gracious. Sure, Peter says, growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But here be strong in the grace, Timothy.
You can't be strong in yourself, but grace is available for you, Timothy, and that's available for you and I. Be strong in the grace.
That is, in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of Maine, among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men.
He doesn't say to gifted men.
To faithful men.
What is a faithful man?
I heard a Brother minister the word on a tape listen, Ernie and Forget and I were traveling listening to that tape and he quoted Chapter Brown.
That one of the exercises he had was to pass on the truth that he had learned in the purity in which he had received it. That's the exercise of a faithful man.
It's just like the Israelites when they returned from captivity, the vessels of the House of God were entrusted to them and were weighed out to them. And when they got to Jerusalem, it was weighed out again to make sure they had not lost any of it. That's the point, isn't it?
What thou hast heard of me in the presence of many witnesses, committed unto faithful men, who are able to teach others also.
We certainly thank the Lord for those whom he raised up.
Taught us to teach us the truth of God.
And then he had to endure hardness. You know, there's the soldier, and there is the.
Farmer.
And.
And do a hardness as a soldier.
And then the athlete.
You know, all of these things give us spiritual essence.
We have to be willing to endure hardness and we have to go by the rules.
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Otherwise, we won't be rewarded. It's not enough that we want to serve the Lord. We have to be willing to serve Him according to the teaching and principles of Scripture.
And.
We must continue faithfully like a farmer.
Because the farmer, before he can reap, you know it should be.
In verse six it should read the husband man that laboreth or he must first labor before he can partake of the fruit.
There's a lot of work that goes into what the farmer has to do before he can harvest what he has sowed.
In other words, continue. Don't start like a house on fire and then throw in the towel. Continue, continue, continue like the farmer.
That's the point.
But I don't want to dwell on every verse. But there were those.
Who, like Paul, had to suffer, suffer trouble, experience trouble.
In connection with the gospel, like an evil doer. But what a comfort verse 9 is. The word of God is not bound.
Was bound, But the word of God isn't bound. The word of God isn't bound today.
And we have to preach the word.
It's the word of God that God has decided to be used for blessing to man, to quicken him, to feed him, and to cleanse him from defilement, the word of God. And it is not bound.
Tremendous encouragement, isn't it? But then also.
That even if we are not faithful, he abides, faithful he cannot deny himself.
Well, many times we have to admit that we are not living up to what he really can expect of us, but he doesn't give us up.
And he is faithful even if we are not what we could be.
And then studied to show thyself approved unto God. Use all diligence.
To be approved unto God.
A Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, cutting in a straight line the word of truth.
Use all diligence to be approved unto God, not to become popular with the people.
Certainly if a brother goes on faithfully and presents the word of God faithfully, those who.
Are spiritually exercised, will be happy and supported. But we are not trying to get the approval of man, we're trying to get the approval of gauze.
And we better cut in a straight line, the word of truth.
You know, in the Philadelphia in the loudest sea and condition in which we find ourselves, the tendency is that we are adjusting principles to fit. The condition of the people of God troubles me that there are those that try to teach things differently about Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 than what we were taught by brethren who lived only a few decades before us, to adjust it to the condition that has come in amongst God's people.
We exercise to cut in a straight line the word of truth, but then even when it comes to the collective path and the individual, having as an individual to separate from vessels to dishonor, from iniquity, and from vessels to dishonor.
There is a collective path. Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with them that call upon the name of the Lord. Out of a pure heart, isn't that reason to be thankful loveth Saints that there are those that we can walk with on that basis?
That desire to live godly.
And they'd want to, with us, pursue and notice righteousness is first, not love.
You know in the word in German and in the original I understand, for iniquity is unrighteousness.
We're separating from unrighteousness.
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And then the first thing in the collective path is righteousness.
Love isn't left out, but the overemphasis is on love. Unconditional love. Throw your arms around somebody that lives in sin.
Righteousness is the first thing mentioned in the collective path. But.
We can be thankful, beloved brethren, that we don't have to go through this world alone.
We have doors of light, precious faith.
That we can pursue righteousness, faith, love, hope with faith. What does that mean? Faith.
It doesn't. It isn't used here for personal faith that saves.
That is the Christian faith, that which we have faith in or that which we desire to accept for our direction in our lives.
In June, that is used this way, content earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints.
You see, that's the Christian teaching Contend earnestly, not to be contentious, but to contend earnestly for deep faith.
Delivered to the Saints. We were here at this conference some years back and we spent a few days at Desert Hot Springs and there was a German fellow who was a freelancer and he would go to.
Bible schools to teach. He married a girl from Los Angeles, A young lady from Los Angeles.
And be being German, of course, We taught them. I gave him Bruce's book on God's order for worship and ministry, Ministry and worship. And he went in his room and read it for five hours and he came out. He was all excited. It's the truth. It's the truth. It's the truth, he says. But people don't want it.
Well, I said. Brother, can't we ask the Lord for help?
To still live it and practice it. But you see, if he would, he would be out of a job. But you see, he did not want to pursue faith. Get the point?
We have to cling to the Christian teaching, and the Lord is able to help us to get a clear understanding of it by the Spirit, also to keep it by the Spirit, and to walk for the glory of God. Well, I hope.
That I brought before you was of the Lord, and maybe, if some of these things were not presented very clear, maybe that will lead to an exercise.
For you to search these things out, we cannot expect that every time we hear something for the first time it is very clear to us and that it all sinks in. But hopefully sometimes what it will lead to is that we search these things out for ourselves. We have to redict the wealth. Remember that in Genesis 26 the Philistines plucked the wells with earth.
That Abraham's servants had dug.
And Isaac's servants reduct these wells. You see, the Philistines speak of those who occupy the place of blessing but has no claim to it. They entered the land the way the Israelites did, but without going through the Red Sea and the Jordan. They haven't come into the good of the death of Christ, and so by human, intelligent and system.
Introduced into divine things, the source of blessing stops.
But I have sometimes said every generation.
Has to predict the wealth. They have to make these things their own by the truth. Sell it not.
And then ask the Lord to not only intellectually enter into it.
If he wouldn't have an intellect, we couldn't enter into anything anyway. But.
The power for spiritual apprehension is the Spirit of God.
And then not only to understand, but to enjoy, and to walk in and find grace to walk in it, don't you think, dear Saints of God the Lord, looking down in the midst of all these sad confusion in the Christian profession, when he sees souls that sincerely desire to please God and to get ahold of his truth and walk in it by grace?
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There must be a great delight to the heart of God, you know.
You know, they're like jewels. They will be like jewels in his crown. You know that song, that.
Says that children will be the jewels. I believe the point is where you read in the Old Testament about it, it is those that go on faithfully for the Lord.
In a sad day, well may the Lord help us. And we can't do anything in our own strength and our own wisdom, but the Lord is able to.
Preserve us and keep us. Keep us especially in the enjoyment of these things and income. Union with our blessed Lord.
Brother Hanks has talked to us. He gave what I consider to be a narrow definition and comparison between mercy and grace, which I think can limit our own enjoyment of what those phrases mean, and to just remind ourselves of how grace is such a important theme in our.
New Testament grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The Law came by Moses, but grace and truth, those two things. And of course the Lord Jesus later told us, I am the way, the truth, and the life. But grace came by the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is found at the beginning and end of almost every epistle we have in the New Testament. And Heinz quoted this verse where to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, sometimes we can learn or understand the meaning of some of these terms by the context and what where they're used. So interestingly, I'd like to turn now to the first chapter of First Timothy, First Timothy.
And there we'll see an example given by the apostle Paul of both mercy and grace right within.
A few verses.
So the first chapter of First Timothy.
Verse 12 verse Timothy 112 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
Now here we'll learn the definition of mercy. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious? And we know that's exactly what he was when he was on the road to Damascus, when the Lord struck him down with a bright light and the voice from heaven.
Now going on.
But I obtained mercy. Why? Because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. Now we have a verse in Romans, and it's several times in the scripture where God says I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and what that means Is God acting in a sovereign way. Nothing to do with the recipient of the mercy necessarily, except for His purposes.
But He determines to have mercy on whom he will have mercy.
He had mercy on Paul here, did he not? Paul was showing enmity, we know.
After he was struck down and heard the voice, he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the response was I am Jesus, whom now persecutest.
Now Ball was an exceedingly bright man. He didn't need an explanation. He understood immediately.
He was persecuting these believers and he says here he did it ignorantly and in unbelief. Now ignorance means a lack of knowledge. I've heard some equator to stupidity. But ignorance is not stupidity. Ignorance is just not oriented, not knowing. So he didn't know that this one that they had crucified was indeed the Messiah. So he was persecuting these believers.
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In unbelief.
And he recognized immediately when he said, Who art thou, Lord? The Lord didn't say I am.
Jehovah, I am the Son of God, he said. I am those that you're persecuting.
And he recognized his error and he changed right on the spot. And of course we know subsequent things where he was blinded, he was taken into Damascus, and so on. But that is not the point I'm trying to make because here in verse 13 he in a sense defines mercy. He said I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. So God acted in a sovereign way with Paul.
Paul wasn't looking for mercy. He wasn't looking for anything except to go out and apprehend those believers and take them back and bond to Jerusalem. Now the next verse 14 and the grace immediately here we have grace in contrast to mercy, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant. How? With faith.
And love, which is in Christ Jesus.
Now we'll look a little bit more to see what that grace meant. But now that he had been awakened to the fact that he was persecuting these believers, and in so doing he was acting contrary to God, who he really wanted to serve, there's no question about that. But he was acting ignorantly in unbelief. Now awakened, he can have grace.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace is not something that's operative with somebody acting ignorantly in unbelief. We sing a very good gospel and we sang it the other night. God and mercy sent his Son to a world by sin and done that was an act of God's mercy sending the Lord Jesus Christ.
There weren't believers or godly people asking God send your sin and send your son, but God had mercy sent his son.
To a world by sin and done apart from that, none of us would have any hope.
Apart from Christ. So that was God's mercy. Now as soon as he believed, he now can exercise grace and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant. How would faith? Heinz quoted this verse several times and it's absolutely one of our most favorite ones from Ephesians 2. For by grace are ye saved. We don't stop there by faith.
And I think with a.
Study of the applications of the term grace and their multitudinous. Believe me, in the New Testament you have them so many it's really hard to see them all. There's a grace of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet for your sex he became poor that he through his poverty might be rich. We are to have grace, Paul when he besought the Lord because of his eye problem. God said my grace is sufficient for thee. So we have so many applications of grace.
But in almost every case, I can assure you, if you look at it and think about it and reflect on it, you'll see it's tied with faith.
And so we have that in Ephesians 2 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.
Now we are saved by faith. We know that it's the gift of God.
But that's the grace of God. But God wants us to have grace, and he wants us to exercise grace.
Heinz also quoted the verse that really started my own personal Oh, preoccupation almost if you will, with the word grace, the last verse of Second Peter, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think everybody in a room would agree it's easy to understand how we grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this lovely book that God has preserved to us which tells us about our Lord Jesus. We have the four Gospels and we learn about him so we can be instructed about Christ. But what started me on my preoccupation with grace was if a young brother came up to me and says, well, it tells me here in the end of Second Peter to grow in grace.
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What do I do?
Now I just suggest you think about that. If you were asked that question, what would you tell somebody to grow in grace?
It's such a lovely term. It's a beautiful term. Heinz indicated that when he used the word gracious. But in our language we have gracious, graceful.
And it's it's lovely, the thought of grace.
Can move our hearts, but when you think of it, it's an injunction to us at the beginning of every epistle grow in grace.
What am I to do?
Have grace? Well, I'm still thinking about this. In fact, I can tell you that I actually tried to write an article and and it was looked at by some of my esteemed brethren, and they thought it was most interesting and encouraged me to go on. But I didn't, because I didn't feel that I had in any way even near touching the breath of that subject, the beauty of that subject, the fullness of it.
So I want to just.
Point to one verse. I didn't tend to take much time except that.
The way Heinz described grace is one that I heard from another brother at this conference, and it was that grace is getting what we don't deserve, where mercy is not getting what we do deserve. And I'd like to suggest that that is a very trivial definition. I'll give you one about mercy, which I thought about as an illustration in my own.
Life. I think it was God's mercy when I try to change my job.
Some years ago.
That what seemed eminently practical. I wanted to stay within the same corporation but get another assignment. And I didn't get it.
That was God's mercy. Mercy doesn't necessarily mean not getting punishment that you deserve. That's maybe a good way to put it. That mercy was just prevented me, God and his wisdom and love. And as a matter of fact, the wonder of that episode was that several weeks after I was rebuffed about that, why I got an opportunity to go to another job. And that's the one where I met my brother.
Who brought the truth to me? So I got saved. But that was God's mercy, wasn't it? See, I was like.
The Apostle Paul ignorantly and unbelief, but the Lord put me where I was going to meet this faithful Christian who was interested in me as an individual who brought the gospel to me, and I got saved.
That was mercy. It has nothing to do with not getting what I deserve. It was just God working in a sovereign way. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. That's what the Scripture says. He can act in an authoritative way because he is God and he will of course do this to attain achieve His purposes. It may be for blessing for the individual upon whom He's having mercy.
But that person doesn't know. But Grace, I think, has this sense of now being.
At least quickened, and I think most of us understand how we use that term. Quickened. I'll try to define it, perhaps someone will straighten me out later, But Quicken means that you have.
The Not eternal life, but you'll have life before God. You're sensitive now to the things of God, and you're open generally when there's quickening to hear the gospel. But you're not saved until you have that saving faith.
But quickening means that you're open to it.
So I think grace is operative during the stage of quickening, which may be in our experience, but as we read here with the Apostle Paul, he says.
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Let's see if I can.
Verse 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, or exceeding and abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Well, how was that?
When?
I think was it Nicodemus, the man that was in?
Damascus, who God sent to Paul and he I I love that episode by the way, because when the Lord said I want you to go to Paul.
Eight it wasn't Paul, and he was Saul of Tarsus. Still, this man had the liberty showing our liberty and speaking with God, he said. But Lord, he's the one who's come here to take us back in *******. And the Lord says, yes, that's so. But he's a chosen vessel, and he'll stand before kings, and he'll be a servant of mine. So he went to the apostle Paul, and he gave him or brought him back his sight.
So all of that was on the basis of Grace, because now Paul was.
The Lords so I believe grace is something that is uniquely a blessing for us as believers. I think we can all learn to exercise grace and and I suggest as you read you'll be amazed at the number of things of grace. Now a verse I discovered recently that I enjoyed that I want to share it with you is at the end of you know of Hebrews.
And it gives you an idea why we want might want to exercise grace. So it's the next to last verse in chapter 12, Hebrews 12, verse 28.
Now the first part of the verse connects to that which went on before, which by the way is interesting because it relates to what we've just are having right now. It says refuse not him that speaketh and this is how God can bring light and understanding to us. Now verse 28 it says wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, we believers.
Let us have grace.
Why? Whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, isn't that striking? Let us have grace, that we can serve God with reverence and godly fear. So that just gives you an example of the many dimensions of grace.
There's a verse which I value. I send the 4th chapter Romans. We won't turn to it. Well, maybe we will, because I don't want to misrepresent it. It'll only take a second to look at it.
Chapter 4 of Romans.
Speaking by the way of Abraham, Abraham believed God was counted to him for righteousness. We heard about that the other night, didn't we?
Now verse 4 just makes reinforces a point I just made. It says now to him they worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of death. So grace is connected with our salvation as has already been pointed out through faith. But going ahead in the 4th chapter there verse 16, it says therefore it is of faith that it might be.
By grace, so that verse particularly in my.
Reflections upon grace has led me to believe that grace is inextricably connected to faith. It's a New Testament for our.
Stage, you might say, if God's dealing with men this.
Current age that we're in is the age of grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That makes it very plain. And God wants us to walk by grace.
And I'll close by just telling you what I feel. I try to come up with a concise statement of the essence of what I think grace is. But as I told you, I I never finished or submitted that article to anyone because I felt I had just begun to get an appreciation or understanding of grace. But the state at which I am right now, and I'll give you that definition, is this.
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That grace is that which God.
Provides to us as believers that will enable us to walk in the good of all His promises for us.
That now ties them with growing in grace in a nice way. Wouldn't it be nice to say every promise God gives us?
I walk fully in at trusting him for what he wants to do for me, which without question is for blessing and for good. That's grace. That's growing in grace. And again I submit that we have it at the beginning and ending of every epistle, and if that shouldn't challenge every one of us, there we have every time we read an epistle, we have grace, often times mercy and peace.
Mercy. We want God's mercy.
Although we have grace, we want God's mercy.
To me, it's a mercy if I'm driving down the highway and there's a man coming at me that's going to fall asleep, it's God's mercy if he doesn't hit me.
I have nothing to do with that. I don't even know enough to ask the Lord's help for it.
But God can have mercy and protect me from that. That's mercy. Grace is that which God has given us where to grow in it. And I think it is to avail ourselves of all the love of God, all his wonderful promises for us, and we can grow in it. Now I'll get back to my original point, and I'll say to my brother Heinz, I wasn't being critical of him because what he gave you as the definition of grace or in the comparison with mercy and grace.
Is not his at all.
Absolutely widespread amongst all the gathered Saints in other parts of Christendom too.
But I submit to you, that's a very narrow definition of mercy and grace. Mercy is not just saving us from what we deserve. Mercy is protecting us from things we don't even know about.
God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. Grace is.
God's love for us as Christians that we can walk and all the goodness of His promises and love for us.
Saver Saver birthday.
From.
My.
December.
Rise to the streets against everything.
That's all.
Right.