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[0:00] Trusting once again in the help of the Lord, we return to the second epistle to Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12.

[0:17] The second epistle to Timothy, the first chapter, verse 12. For the which cause I also suffer these things.

[0:37] 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.

[1:06] The second epistle to Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12. Now, the apostle Paul, with all of God's dear people, knew something of suffering for Jesus' sake.

[1:34] And, dear friends, if you and I are amongst those whom the Lord hath eternally saved with that great salvation, we shall know something of suffering, not for our own mistakes.

[2:01] Of course, there is a path where we have to suffer for our own mistakes, for our own faults, and for our own failings.

[2:16] This isn't that which the apostle Paul is bringing before his son in the faith, Timothy.

[2:28] But what he is bringing before Timothy is that he can expect such a path that that that shall be for Christ's sake, and that soul will suffer some of those things.

[2:51] Of course, perhaps the apostle Paul, in a most especial way, and suffered for Christ's sake. And so he comes to dear Timothy, in affection and love.

[3:07] These epistles, and particularly perhaps, not exclusively, but particularly to Timothy, the apostle Paul so affectionately warns young Timothy of those things which he can expect in the way of that great salvation.

[3:36] And he says this, amongst, of course, many other things, he says, for which cause. Now, this cause.

[3:48] And that, that, that, that, and Paul is bringing before Timothy, and very briefly, I would desire, by the help of the Spirit, just briefly, to bring it before you this evening, it is the cause of God.

[4:08] Now, if you and I, my dear friends, are brought in that way, we shall be deeply concerned.

[4:21] We shall be deeply interested in the cause of God. Because this cause of God is, is, is, is nothing else but that way of salvation.

[4:38] And in that way of salvation, there will be, of course, and that, that, that to, to suffer. The, the apostle Paul, in the, in the second chapter, and he, he, he, he writes this.

[4:55] He says, it, it is a faithful saying. And amongst those, that, that faithful saying, he says this, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.

[5:12] And the implication is this, that if there is no suffering for Christ's sake, then we shall not reign with him.

[5:25] But if we suffer for Christ's sake, then we shall also reign with him. It is, it is not, let me just say this, in fact, emphatic reign, it is, it is not a reward, but it is the purpose of his grace, and, and the way that God had appointed, and, and the path for his dear people.

[5:56] So, Puritans, you know, very often used to say this, if you read some of their, their, their writings, not much is perhaps spoken of it in, in our day, but they used to say this, no cross, no crown.

[6:15] Now this may be, my dear friends, a great concern and anxiety to you and I, because we may ask ourselves this evening, do you and I carry a cross?

[6:32] For you see, the, the, the Lord said this, he says, if any man, these are the words of the Lord Jesus, who spake as no other man spake, he says, if any man follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

[7:00] Now just look very briefly at those three points. Denying oneself. Now, dear friends, we need much grace and wisdom to deny ourselves.

[7:16] If there, if there is something that, that, that may seem very attractive, very important and very necessary, unto our lives.

[7:29] And for Christ's sake, this is, and we deny ourselves. Dear friends, there, there is of course, that, that whereby this soul suffers.

[7:45] They, that is, they, they, they, they deprive themselves of that perhaps. It, it may only be such something of, of very little significance, but there is something in it that is appearing or attracting unto us.

[8:04] And it, and it may be a way where, where, where, whereby the, the Lord had called you and I to walk in. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and this way, and we, we have to continually deny ourselves.

[8:24] For which cause? And the, the, the apostle says, I also suffer these things. Well, of course, we know that the, the apostle formed and suffered many things as, as he sets before us in verse 11, that, that he was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

[8:51] Now, of course, all of God's dear people are not, are not appointed a preacher, an apostle, or a teacher of the Gentiles.

[9:03] Let me just say this, my dear friends, although, and Paul suffered and many things, and, and it, it was, if we analyze it and, and, and, and bring it in this context, it was one, one of the appointments of God.

[9:24] Now, in the appointments of God, there, there will be something outstanding in, and, and, and the experience of that soul. And in God's appointments, this soul, this soul will be called upon, and, and the circumstances, of course, are, are innumerable and, and various in many degrees.

[9:50] But, but, in the appointments of God, and this, this soul will be called upon upon to deny oneself. Because, the appointments of God are not congenial or suited to the flesh.

[10:10] To our natural inclinations, our natural, and the, delights. They run in opposition unto it. And, and so we, although, although, although, and we are not, we are not called or want to be an apostle, a teacher, or a preacher, we trust, my dear friends, that, and there are those appointments of God.

[10:37] Not the appointments of man. When man, when man appoints a thing or a way, he appoints it whereby it may be conformable and pleasing to the flesh.

[10:51] But when God appoints it, he have a vastly, vastly different design to, to a fleshly appointment. He designs the wonders of his grace.

[11:05] And the purpose of his, purposes of his grace may be made manifest. And, and that soul will be the subject of the work and the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

[11:20] Not of a natural mind or, or carnal inclinations. And so, there, there, there, there must be, and there will be, dear friends, and, and, and, and something that you and I will have to suffer in respect unto the cause of God.

[11:39] God. Then, then, let's look, let's look very briefly, not only at denying ourselves, there, there, there will, there will, there will, there will also, also be the carrying of our cross.

[11:57] That cross, my dear friends, that where, where, where, let's just look at it in this way, that cross where, our Lord died unto sin.

[12:13] As we view Calvary, and as we view that, that glorious sufferer, as he hung upon that cross at Calvary, we view the dear Lord as dying unto sin.

[12:31] Now, as, as, as, as he hung upon that cross, and as, as he says also, in, and, and, while he was here, and that, that, that, that, there will be a denying of oneself, and also a carrying of the cross.

[12:51] There will be, my dear friends, a desire. There will be this principle within. I say that, my dear friends, because we, we feel to come so terribly short in dying unto sin, because there's something which is, which is indissolvably connected with dying unto sin, and that is, and living unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

[13:23] Now, these things, my dear friends, I believe are, are, are, are, are represented in carrying our cross.

[13:33] And that cross, dear friends, will be the cause of God. And that, for, for, we shall, we shall have to groan many and many a time as this same dear apostle groaned, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death.

[13:57] I understand, and perhaps you've heard this before, but I understand that if a person murdered another person, one of, one of the, the punishments before, before that, that person was, was, was, put to death, they strapped that body on the person that they had, that, that, whom he had killed, and they had to walk continually with this dead body and strapped upon them.

[14:32] Well, we can imagine the awful condition that this soul, that this person may, may have felt. And when that putrefied body was strapped, strapped unto him.

[14:47] And the apostle Paul takes this figure and, and, and he says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin.

[15:00] And it was a body that, that they had strapped upon that soul that the apostle Paul referred unto. Dear friend, there is suffering in this, as there was with that criminal.

[15:15] And, and there is, for which cause I also suffer these things, a dying unto sin. Because you and, you and I, we still retain that, and that awful inclination of sin.

[15:33] And that sin is innocent all about us. But the offence, is there not? Are there not, are there not, are there not seated deeply in our hearts?

[15:47] Not, not so much, perhaps, of the actions, but for, for, for we seem to be such, such, such, such great failures, where I can only speak as one feels for their selves.

[16:01] But, but, but there is this principle, where, it's the principle of holiness. You see, when the Holy Spirit imparts that divine nature into that heart, and makes that new heart, he doesn't renovate the old heart, heart, he creates a new heart, and he creates a new spirit.

[16:27] You can never find in the Word of God where the, the old heart and the old nature will ever be renovated. Dear friends, it is wonderful when it is subdued, but there is that, there is, that the Holy Spirit creates this new heart and this new spirit.

[16:49] Now, what, what, what, what is the, what is the nature of this new heart and this new spirit? It is holiness, my dear friends.

[17:03] It is holiness. And that new heart and that, and that new spirit is holy because it is the immediate work of, of the Holy Spirit.

[17:16] it, it comes from the person of the Holy Spirit. That new heart and that soul have implanted in their heart the principle of holiness.

[17:31] It will be a poor religion, my dear friends. Although we have to groan daily and sigh under this body of sin and death.

[17:41] and perhaps the more we know and see and feel of the, of this body of sin and death, the more we pant and long for holiness.

[17:55] And sometimes it seems the farther we get from it. But, blessed be God, that principle is within.

[18:06] For which cause I, I suffer these things. There is then dear friends not only and denying oneself but there is a carrying, a carrying of our cross.

[18:23] Then thirdly, very briefly and the, and the, the Lord says and, and they follow him. Well, you know, they follow after, after perfection.

[18:38] they follow after those things that pertain unto the Lord Jesus Christ. They see, as of course the, the, the, the apostle Paul in, in our, in our, in our reading and he, he says this, but thou hast, thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity and patience.

[19:07] You see, all these things, my dear friends, they portray this, the person of Christ, that glorious person whom we trust that there will be that time when, as the, as the dear apostle John says, we know not what we shall be, but we, but we shall be like him.

[19:34] now, these things are implanted in a poor sinner's heart, dear friends, and, and, and, and they suffer, for, for they, there seems to be so much which is of an opposite nature and an opposite character.

[19:53] Well, do we know a little of what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote to, to Timothy, for which cause, the cause of God, I also suffer these things, those things, which God has seen fit and, and good and proper, that his people should suffer.

[20:21] There is, of course, but we haven't time to go into it. The Lord's people are very often called to, to walk a path of, of suffering in, in, in innumerable ways.

[20:38] Sometimes they are called to, to suffer persecution. Sometimes they are, they are called to, to walk in, in a, in a path of great affliction in circumstances.

[20:50] Sometimes in body. And so we, so we could continue. But this word, for which cause, I also suffer these things.

[21:02] I just, I'll just leave this with you. It also means, for the which cause, I also endure these things.

[21:14] You know, it's a, it's a most beautiful word. And you see, the apostle says, in the, in the second chapter, still writing to Timothy, they'll therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

[21:34] For which cause, I also suffer or endure these things. The, the, the Lord gives that grace of endure.

[21:47] we could never endure, my dear friends, how many times that you, you, you and I, perhaps we haven't said it audibly, we haven't told our nearest and our dearest, but we have been ready to give it all up.

[22:05] It's, as of course, and dear David, when, when he says, one day I shall, I shall perish by the hand of sword.

[22:16] He was ready to give up everything because he felt that he would never endure, you know, Moses, we read this, he endured, how did Moses endure?

[22:30] You know, Moses, Moses had had a path of great sufferings and there was much to endure as he was instrumental in bringing the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and captivity.

[22:50] He had to bear with all their frames and tempers all that we had remained in Egypt. They have brought us out here to die.

[23:01] And when there was no water, when there were those things that they felt would, they could never endear. Poor old Moses, you know, he had, much to endure.

[23:13] How did he endure? Well, Paul, writing to the Hebrews, he tells us, under the sweet influence of the Holy Spirit, that Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible.

[23:33] This is the only way, my dear friends, you and I will endure these sufferings. and when by precious pain, and we see just a little of what the dear Lord endured for us.

[23:56] He who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, he who had not committed one sin, he who had not transgressed the law in one iota, and yet he suffered that tremendous punishment of enduring and paying that tremendous penalty of all his church's sins, and he endured, and we have to say this, our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us exceeding an eternal weight of glory, where we look not at the things which are seen, but we look at the things which are not seen.

[24:54] Here's the remedy, my dear friends, he endured, as seen him who is invisible, that is then, he endured by faith, faith sees that thing which cannot be seen by the natural eye, faith is the substance of those things which are not seen, and faith sees he who is invisible, well, what an unspeakable mercy, my dear friends, and then we can just look at this word very briefly, for which cause I also experience these things, now, there will be, dear friends, you will not be, you will not be left, and I trust I will not be left, and to trust in experience,

[25:56] I try to lay this before my own little people, but although we shall be brought off of all our experience, we can only trust in one glorious person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, but when we said that, dear friends, the children of God, they do have a God-given experience, and this experience that the Lord sees fit for his dear people to walk in, for he says this, when thou walkest through the waters, here's the experience, and when thou shall pass through the fire, that cell will not be left in it, they have to pass through it, here's the experience of God's dear people, when that trial, when that affliction, when those things that

[27:00] God has seen fit to bring you and I into, thou will pass through them, and there will be experience, and what will be the experience? I believe that we shall be brought, dear friends, to glorify the infinite power of wisdom, and unparalleled, love of God, that he hath not left us, for those waters to overwhelm us, or the flame to burn us, but for which cause I suffer, or I experience, dear friends, we know that, and perhaps we can hardly relate an experience, but there are those things whereby the Lord sweetly teaches, and brings us more and more acquainted with ourselves, and with the power of God.

[28:01] It's a beautiful word, and I often quote it, and I believe, I trust, that it has been made helpful to oneself, what John the Baptist said, when the disciples asked him a question, and he said this, I must decrease, but he must increase.

[28:27] Now, this is the experience, now, in our text, for which cause I also experience, or suffer, these things, you know, it's painful to flesh, to decrease, you know it is as well as what I do, flesh always desires to increase, but here's the experience of God's dear people, and I do trust, and our dear younger friends may also be sweetly drawn and led into these same things, that they must decrease, we must decrease, but he must increase.

[29:11] What a sweet experience, experience, my dear friends, which is fitting and preparing that saint for the inheritance of God with his dear people.

[29:25] Then we must go on, but then the apostle writing to Timothy says, nevertheless, I am not ashamed.

[29:37] Now, undoubtedly, the experiences or the suffering or the endurance that the apostle Paul was called or appointed to go through under the hand of the Lord, they caused him undoubtedly to enter into many, many things.

[30:06] But there is one thing, and that the apostle Paul could say this, there perhaps was many a doubt, many a fear, and you know you do not want me to tell you those things which so often spontaneously arise out of our poor hearts.

[30:30] But particularly and especially when we are brought into a place of endurance, suffering, and those things for Christ's sake.

[30:41] But whatever, my dear friends, we may gain, whatever we may lose, whatever state or condition we may be brought into, whether it is of the flesh or of the spirit, Paul could say this to Timothy, and nevertheless I am not ashamed.

[31:10] That is, and this soul will never be ashamed of the cause of God.

[31:20] It may be very trying, it may be very heavy, it may be very disappointing, you may be discouraged in it, the Lord.

[31:33] Dear David, you know, when he returned to Zigglag and saw his city burn down, we read this, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

[31:49] He was not ashamed, my dear friends, and so I believe that the Lord will not allow or permit this soul to be ashamed of the cause of God.

[32:03] They know deep down in their heart that this is that way which the Lord hath appointed for them.

[32:14] And although you cannot perhaps see it at this very moment, but you believe it because you are not ashamed of it, that all things, all these things that you suffer, all those things of adversity, or we may even say of prosperity, and all these things shall work together for our good.

[32:41] You cannot see it, but there is this deep down in the heart, and you are not ashamed of the cause of God, or the testimony of Christ, as we read together, that testimony of Christ, which of course is that testimony which the Lord hath left concerning his dear son, and that salvation through his blood and righteousness, that there will not be ashamed of it, but nevertheless I suffer these things, but nevertheless I am not ashamed, then he goes on to say this, he says, for I know whom I have believed.

[33:36] Now, what an experience this is, and you will come, my dear friends, my dear young friends, you will come, you will come into this experience through, through, and that this cause of God, there will be, there will be a time when you have to suffer for these things, but blessed be his name, in this, in this part of suffering, there will be, there will be the gracious knowledge of salvation through Christ Jesus and his precious blood, made known imparted unto your immortal soul for your salvation.

[34:27] Now, this same apostle, writing to the church of the Philippians, how beautifully he says this, he says, but what things, amongst other things, but what things were gained to me, those I counted, lost for Christ, look at the knowledge of this, this isn't, this isn't, this isn't a, this isn't a fleshly knowledge, a fleshly knowledge would be entirely the reverse, for, but what things were gained to me, what things were gained to me, I'm going to keep for myself, this is, this is the, this is the knowledge of the flesh, but the teaching of the spirit is this, but what things were gained to me, those I counted, lost for Christ, yea, doubtless I count all things, those things that you suffer, the lost, or perhaps those things which you would love to enter into,

[35:35] I count all things but lost, then he comes to this, I count all things but lost, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, all may grace be our divine guide and helper through the Holy Spirit, that we may see the excellency, that this excels above everything else, now, Paul, writing to Timothy, he says, for I know whom I have believed, and how did the apostle Paul know whom he had believed, because he was brought to this point, he counted all other things but lost, and for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, we do not know, my dear friends, and what you and

[36:43] I will be called upon to lose, but all may we be given grace, when the Lord sees fit that we should lose something, or how, and that something, my dear friends, will be a loss, it's something that we will not want to lose, but we may be called upon to lose, now the apostle Paul says, I have suffered the loss of all things, you know, he had of course a wonderful opportunity, as of course Moses did, he had a wonderful opportunity, he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter by adoption, Paul had a wonderful opportunity, he was a very learned man, undoubtedly, he would have been, if the Lord had not stopped him in his mad career, he would have been a very learned and esteemed and a highly respected man, in his day and generation, but he lost all that, and he says he's lost all things, and I do count them, and but done, that I may win

[37:59] Christ, and be found in him, not I in mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, be made conformable unto his death, I know, whom I, I know he says, whom I have believed, and he believed my dear friends in this way, we have just turned very briefly to the prophet Isaiah, he says this, he's relating his experience, though he was angry with me, you know, you'll know something of the anger of God, and that anger of

[39:04] God against your sin, that you, and what I have committed, though he was angry with me, that anger had been turned away, and that anger had been turned away by the person, work, and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the only way by which God's anger can be turned, the apostle Paul said, for I know whom I have believed, when the Lord dealt with the apostle Paul, when that light shone upon him, he knew that, the anger of the Lord, but that anger was turned away, and not only was that turned away, but he comforted me, and then what does he say, he says, behold, God is my salvation, in whom I will trust, mark this, and he is my redeemer, who hath redeemed my soul from corruption, that I am not, for I know whom

[40:17] I have believed, in that, in that, glorious person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's turned the anger of God, from such an undeserving, worthless sinner, as you and I, and he turned it on his dear son, and he stood in our room, place, and stead, and suffered, the unjust for the just, that he might bring us back to God, for I know, can we say in our little measure, for I know whom I have believed, for in, and the scripture says this, in him shall the Gentiles trust, and that soul is brought, before we can trust in him, or I believe this word in the margin is, that word believed is rendered trust, we cannot trust in anything that we don't believe in, but this soul, and knows whom he has been brought to trust in, and for he is my rock, he is that one whom is my refuge, and he is my fortress, my all in all,

[41:52] I know in whom I have believed, well, dear friends, what an unspeakable mercy, you see he says this, and he says, I know whom I have believed, mark this, Paul is now, he is looking back over a little of his past experience, I have believed, perhaps, dear friends, there has been those times, I trust, when this real believing faith has been enabled to lay apart, lay hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ, but you've had to prove, my dear friends, many things, you walk now, perhaps the path, but you can say, I know, I know whom I have believed, and then the apostle, which has to be very brief, and he says this,

[42:55] I am persuaded, he looks now, he looks now forward, I have believed, although there seems to be so much now comes in between, that wretched sin of unbelief now seems to be predominant in my heart, but I believe I can humbly say, I know in whom I have believed, and I, and with this, in the soul, the soul is able to say, and I am persuaded, looking forward, that he is able to keep that, he couldn't keep it himself, and he had believed, now he's persuaded, that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day, now what an unspeakable mercy, now what have you and

[43:56] I then, my dear friends, committed unto him, if we can humbly say with that, with that little hope in our heart, I know of whom I have believed, and you can come now again, you can say, and I am persuaded, I feel to be, I cannot feel as I would like to, but I can say this, I persuade, it's a beautiful world, where the apostle Paul used it quite often, he doesn't say, as so many do, I've had a word, I know this is all right, I'm strong in this, he said, I am persuaded, it was a sweet persuasion, I am persuaded, and that he is able to keep that, which I have committed unto him against that day, now when the apostle calls him and comes to the close of his life, he says, he speaks in a most wonderful way, he says,

[45:10] I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand, three things, I have to just be very brief on it, three things he says, he's just concerning that time, now his departure is at hand, that he's committed, at this time he wrote our text, he says, as he comes to the end of his life, I have fought a good fight, I have committed this fight into the hands of my God, and I have fought a good fight, not as though he fought it in his own strength, he had committed this fight into the hands of his God, and he was unable to stand in the strength of the Lord, not only had he fought a good fight, but he says,

[46:15] I have finished my course, now what an unspeakable mercy my dear friends, if we can commit, we do not know how many days or weeks or months or years are allotted unto us, but we know this, that we have to run a course, now the apostle Paul says in our text, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day, I have committed my whole course, that is my whole running in this race, that course which the Lord has appointed for my lot here but below, I have committed, not only the fight, but I committed that course into his hand, because it goes so far beyond me,

[47:17] I cannot manage it, I have committed it unto him, then he says thirdly, not only that, he has fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, now I have committed and that faith into his most gracious hands, and then of course, lastly, and these souls are enabled into thine hand, I commit my spirit, the apostle Peter, he says, committing our souls into the hands of a faithful creator, now I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that, that good fight, that fight which must end in complete triumph and victory, why, because the great head of the church has conquered and been made victorious over sin, death and hell,

[48:34] I have committed that fight, that fight against sin, fight against self, fight against all the walls of the devil, for we fight not against flesh and blood, but we fight against all those things that are saying in our souls, how are we going to get on, poor souls, I have committed all this fight, and the great issues that belong unto it, Lord, into thine hands, I have also committed my whole course, whether in providence or in grace, I desire to lie passive in the hands of this heavenly part of and I have committed and that faith that the Lord will keep and that we may be upheld in that path of faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness and not only for me but for all those that love the Lord

[49:43] Jesus, I am persuaded. Can we come in in some humble little measure with this experience that the apostle Paul so affectionately speaks unto his son in the faith Timothy and may we be able to commit into his gracious hand to keep us keep us in that fight keep us he is able to keep the ability of God he is able to keep us in this fight and not for the enemy to prevail over us he is able we shall finish our course with joy and he is able to keep us in the faith once delivered unto the saints and as we commit our soul or spirit into his most gracious hands

[50:51]  Lord thou art able to keep it against that day that day when the Lord shall call us from earth unto his own immediate presence and that day of judgment thou art able to keep to keep such a one as me and I commit these things into thy most gracious hand against that day but the time is gone I have to claim may the Lord have his blessing Amen