2 Timothy chapter 1. No doubt you've been reading these verses knowing that we will be dealing with them. 2 Timothy chapter 1, reading this morning from verse 7 through to verse 10. 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 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. who has 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, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And amen. John Newton said, my priority in preaching is to break the hard heart and to heal the broken heart. And that is a great goal in preaching. And it is amazing that the Holy Spirit of God can take a message and achieve both goals at one and the same time. It can break the hard heart. and it can heal the broken heart. And the Spirit of God has a way of taking the Word of God and applying it in ways that the preacher, as he preached it, couldn't have imagined that it would have been used. And I've never ceased to be amazed at some of the things that, for me, was just a throwaway comment, was just a wee offhand statement, and yet that can be the very thing the Spirit of God uses. to imprint upon someone's mind. It makes the preacher realize how small they are. Last week our focus was on verse 7, and the great fact that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind. And no doubt in the past week you've been applying God's Word, which is the purpose of coming to church in the first place, and you've become more spiritually powerful, more spiritually loving, and more spiritually self-controlled. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands. I'm going to take that as a given. Okay? And I imagine as you sit in church this morning, you have a divine dynamic energy that will enable you to achieve what is humanly impossible. You have a godly passion that reaches out to others in the same way that God reaches out to us. And you have a mind that is spirit controlled and balanced. so that you can think like God thinks. Now, the bad news is that it's not optional. I am naive enough to think that if I take the time to prepare and to preach God's Word, that you as God's people will apply God's Word. I'm naive enough to think that my preaching ought to make a difference. Could I say to you, before we get into our text this morning, God wants all or nothing. Isn't that dramatic? God wants all or nothing. In fact, a person who calls himself Christian without being a devoted, passionate follower of Christ is living an absurdity. To claim Christ and to know about him at all, you must be passionate about him. Our focus this morning rests on another amazing topic, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, if you're in the meeting this morning and you're not a Christian, I apologize, because this maybe won't mean too much to you this morning. You're missing it. I'm sorry about that. If you want to speak to me afterwards, I'll speak to you about that. But this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The first thing I want you to see in our text is our attitude to the gospel. It says, verse 8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be ashamed. I remember as a child as was our habit every Christmas and every Easter, we had to go to the brethren conference that was on. At Easter, I remember going—I think it was the Grosvenor Hall in Belfast—I remember carrying my Bible to go to the conference, and my worst nightmare happened. One of my school chums saw me walking in to the Grosvenor Hall carrying my Bible. I was embarrassed. Because I knew that it would be around the school before I got back from my Easter holidays, that Kennedy was carrying his Bible to a conference. I remember friends coming from school to my home. I was excited about them coming. But when they come, all of a sudden they saw the gospel text, the scripture text up on the wall, and they made jokes about it. And I was embarrassed. Be not therefore ashamed. Maybe you've had similar experiences. This world, dear friend, is not ashamed of its sin and depravity. This world is not ashamed of its Halloween activities that bring in that dark and sinister attitude, and they have been flaunting it all weekend. This world is not embarrassed screaming their praise for a football team or a pop group. They see no embarrassment whatsoever, yet so often God's people are embarrassed and apologetic for a message that brings light and joy and hope and healing and salvation and love. The gospel that has changed our lives is the power of God to cleanse and to convert and to cancel our sin, and says Paul to young Timothy, Timothy, never be embarrassed about the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, Paul writing to Timothy says there's two aspects to this embarrassment. There is embarrassment of the message, embarrassment of the messenger. Don't be ashamed of the message, don't be ashamed of the messenger. Be not ashamed, therefore, of the testimony of our Lord." That's interesting. This gospel message that we declare is the testimony of our Lord. The message does not belong to a preacher. It doesn't belong to a group of believers. It doesn't belong to a denomination. This, dear friend, is the testimony, the witness of our Lord. That's a good reason not to be embarrassed and not to be ashamed. The gospel is all about Christ. It's for Christ and is to glorify Christ. In the gospel, we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord. We are no longer our own. We belong to Jesus. He is our master. don't be ashamed of the message. Secondly, don't be ashamed of the messenger. Says Paul, don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. It wasn't popular to be a friend of Paul. He was a social outcast to both the Jewish community and to the Roman authorities. He was a pariah. No one wanted to be associated with him, even his Christian colleagues. They didn't want to know him. And in verse 15, you will read, that all in Asia turned away from me. Nobody bringing me parcels, nobody coming to sit with him during visiting hours. Nobody knocking the door, trying to get a wee word with him. No one sending wee messages saying, we're praying for you, Paul. Don't worry, we're upholding, you know. Says, Paul, all in Asia turned away from me. Tell me, would you have stood with Paul? Would you have risked your family and your employment and your income to stand with this man who was hated by the Jewish and Roman authorities? Would you have said, I don't care, I'm standing with him? Would you? Are you sure? Would you have visited him on death row? Would you have been happy to visit him in his cell? And cells were not the way they are in our day. You didn't just walk in. You were lowered into the cell. You were dropped down. There was no escaping. Your food was dropped down to you. Would you say, lower me down? Would you have stood with him in the Austrian way outside Rome at his beheading? Said, Paul, I'll stand with you. Tell me, did you stand with the MacArthur family in their court case in May of this year? And they're now up for appeal as they defend the right of Asher's Bakery. Did you stand with them? Did you send a text message, an email? Did they even find a place in your prayer life? Tell me. Will you stand with 78-year-old Jim McConnell, pastor of the Metropolitan, who sought to preach on the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism? Maybe the way he did it wasn't the way you and I would have done it. But tell me, are you supporting him? Are you praying for him? Will you stand as the court case comes up now in the beginning of December, I think the 14th of December? Will you stand with him? Notice, please, Paul was not Rome's prisoner. He describes himself as, be not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. He was the Lord's prisoner. He was Christ's prisoner. as he puts in his last days on planet earth, with no comforts, no care, no companions, as the food is dropped down to him in the pit of a cell that he's in, he says, if I'm free, then I'm Christ's servant, and if I'm incarcerated, then I am Christ's prisoner. In other words, whatever circumstances I'm in, I belong to Christ. I say to you, dear Saint of God, never be ashamed of the message, and never be ashamed of the messenger. I was thinking this morning, I mentioned it in the prayer meeting this morning, we serve a God who cannot be exaggerated. We talk of his love, his love is greater than what we can even imagine. We talk of his power, his power is greater than we can imagine. We talk about God and we know that we never, no matter what we say about him, we can't exaggerate him. He's bigger, he's more magnificent, he's more wonderful than anything. that we could think of. Don't be embarrassed about the message and don't be embarrassed about the messenger. Our attitude to the gospel. Secondly, our agonizing for the gospel. Look at verse 8. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. That doesn't sound too good, sure it doesn't. Be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. Doesn't sound attractive. Paul is saying to Timothy, just because you're young, just because you're inexperienced, that will not deflect you from suffering for the cause of Christ. In fact, in chapter 3 that we will come to eventually, and in verse number 12, it says, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Indeed, we could argue from that verse that the extent of our godliness can be measured by the level of the persecution that you suffer for the cause of Christ. And I suppose we have to ask the question, then, how godly are we? I really don't suffer too much. for the cause of Christ. And yet Paul says, if you're going to live godly, if you're going to put Christ as your number one priority, then invariably you will suffer persecution for it. And we have adopted a sanitized, watered down, insipid form of Christianity that enables us to claim the name of Christ and not be persecuted. we have watered down the things that we say we believe to a degree, that the world has no offense anymore with us, and they're happy with us. And that's why we've no power. And that's why we're not seeing what God would maybe want to see in us and through us. And we have settled for an insipid, watered-down, weak form of Christianity. May God forgive us. This world still praises dead saints and persecutes living ones. And across the world today, 200 million Christians are being denied the basic fundamental human rights solely because of their faith in Jesus. 200 million. Since the crucifixion 2,000 years ago, There is an estimated 43 million Christians that have been killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. It is in suffering that we prove our love for Jesus. It is in adversity that we prove the genuineness of our conversion. And we have robbed ourselves of being able to prove the genuineness of our faith because we have opted out of the fight. The attitude to the gospel, be not ashamed. Agonizing for the gospel, be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. Thirdly, and finally, our appreciation of the gospel. We've looked at our attitude, agonizing, now our appreciation. And we find it at the end of verse 8 through to verse 10. We see six aspects of this glorious message, and I have about 10 minutes, so we have to do it in less than two minutes each, okay? So hold on tight. We're going to move. Ready? Number one is a gospel of power. Verse 8. be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God." This message that I will be preaching tonight is a powerful, dynamic message. It draws people to faith and repentance, because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10, 17 I think. This is a message of power. It breaks ingrained habits and sin. It changes questionable ethics and business practices. It dispels fear and worry. It repairs marriages. It instills hope and purpose. It's a powerful message. You know, our wee granddaughter, Abigail, Deborah's daughter is just over one. She's starting to walk. She's been crawling for England. And all of a sudden, she's discovered she's two feet. And now she's walking. Now, she's not walking too far back. See, every time she walks, everybody applauds. Well done. Fantastic. Walk to Granny. Walk to Granda. Ah, she's development, you see. Growth, you see. A sign that she's maturing, you see. Why is it that so many of God's people are crawling when we have the ability to fly? Why is it that we think it's all right crawling through life whenever we have the ability to soar? It's a message of power. Secondly, it's a message, it's a gospel of salvation. Verse number nine, who hath saved us. It's a gospel of salvation. It saves from sin and all its depravity. It liberates from Satan's domination and control. It brings us into a relationship with God, our creator. It saves us. from the penalty of sin, it delivers us from the power of sin, and one day, praise God, it'll take us from the very presence of sin forever. Wonderful salvation, saved from its chains, saved from its power, and one day, saved from its very presence. Never apologize for the gospel. It's the gospel gospel of power. It's the gospel of salvation. It's the gospel of holiness. Look at verse nine. He has saved us and called us with an holy calling. I didn't write it. It's in the text. This gospel is a gospel of The gospel, dear friend, must bring a dramatic change because God takes control the moment we trust him and we can never be the same again. It turns people inside out. The ungodly become godly, the impure become pure, the dirty become clean, the bad become good. It's a gospel of change. And if you tell me you're saved, I will rejoice with you and I'll shout hallelujah, but you show me it in your life. You see, whenever we come to Christ, there must be inevitably a change and a holiness. So I'll believe you and I'll rejoice with you. You show me by your life that Christ is in control. You show me by your life that he's the master of all that you do. And the words of Paul to 2 Corinthians 5 and 7, all things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. It's not a sinner patched up. It's not a sinner cleaned up. It's not a sinner made religious. It's a new birth. It's a new beginning. we will never draw closer to God just by living life. To become close to God, there must be a deliberate pursuit and focus to live a holy life. Because if it's not, you'll never get close to Him. Sure you could you'd be struck down. And so the more you live a holy life, the more you're able to draw close to his precious bleeding side, as we sing. It's the gospel of power. The gospel of salvation. It's the gospel of holiness. It's the gospel of eternal purpose. Look at verse nine again. He's called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose. This gospel has its roots in the purposes of God. This gospel has its roots in eternity past. Its source is the sovereignty of God, straight from the heart of deity. chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1 and 4. A way back in pre-creation days, before earth was here, before sun delight the day and the moon delight the night. before the stars, before the planets, before the land and the sea, before the beauty of creation, God purposed to surround himself for all eternity with redeemed men and women who would respond to him intelligently and affectionately. The purpose of God. And so what God is doing with Lawrence Kennedy started way back before Adam and Eve. Isn't that amazing? And he purposed a plan and a purpose for my life and something else for your life. God has a purpose for you. God had a purpose in saving you. God had a purpose to bring you to faith. God has a purpose to harness the character that he's given you, the wealth that he's given you, the intellect he's given you, to harness it for his kingdom. It's a gospel of eternal purpose. It's a gospel of grace. Verse 9, according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. The grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ, seen before the foundation of the world, given before the foundation of the world, but come into fruition and come to completion in the person of Jesus. It's the gospel of grace. God reveals his love in spite of our sin. The Bible is not a record of mankind's search for God. It is the opposite. It's a record. It's the story of God's search for man. And in grace, God gives us his love, his mercy, his salvation, which we never deserved. Deserves a hallelujah, doesn't it? Maybe it's deep down inside. I hope it is. You will appreciate, won't you, that if our life is comfortable, we don't really need the comforter. If we live our lives within a wee bubble, safe and secure, and all is comfortable, then we don't really need the comforter. We only need the comforter whenever we get out of the bubble and we walk in the water like Peter and we get out of the comfort zone and we do something for God. Then we need the comforter to help us. And whenever I resigned from the Northern Bank, all those hundreds of years ago, People didn't understand it. For Leslie and I, it was getting out of the boat. It was living in such a way that we would need, every day, we'd need the comforter. And the big danger in my life, dear Saint of God this morning, is I've become comfortable again from having that time whenever I was out of the boat. I'm quite happy in the boat again. One of the reasons why I'm involved in mission is to make sure we're getting out of the boat. Make sure that I live in such a way that I need, I need, I need the comfort. It's our appreciation of the gospel. It's the gospel of power. It's the gospel of salvation. It's the gospel of holiness. It's the gospel of divine purpose. It's the gospel of grace, finally. It's the gospel of life and incorruptibility. Look at it. Verse 10, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." It's a gospel of light and incorruptibility. Christ annulled the power, the fear, the sting of death. And my time is gone. Let me finish with an illustration. A man just got bad news from the doctor. His condition was terminal. And the man is starting to come to terms with that prognosis. And he's out walking the dog one day, and he thinks, I'll call with the pastor. So he went to see the pastor and said, Pastor, what is heaven like? And the pastor says, I don't really know. And the man said, Pastor, in your position, I thought you would have told me all about it. You're a minister of the gospel. I thought you'd be an expert. The pastor said, do you hear your dog outside scratching, scraping at the door, wanting in? The man said, yes, I do. I'm sorry about that. He says, no, your dog is wanting in. Watch, he said, and he opened the door and the dog came bounding in and over to its master. The pastor said, your dog has never been in here before, didn't know what this room was like, didn't know its layout, its color, its furniture, all the different things about this room, what books I have, what books I don't have. For the dog, it was sufficient to know that his master was in here. So he wanted in. because his master was in here. And he had no fear of it coming in because his master was in there. He said, the pastor, that's how it is for me in heaven. There's so much I don't know. It is enough for me to know that my master's there. And it has me scratching to get in, to be with him. What is your attitude to the gospel? I'll be able to tell in about six hours, because we'll have our gospel meeting, and I will find out then whether you have an interest in the gospel in this place or not. I know some have mission hall responsibilities and out singing, I understand all that. But apart from those understandable reasons, I will understand tonight how much of a love you have for the gospel here. because I have to stand and preach it. And it's harder if the place is near empty. Never be ashamed of it, of its message or its messenger. Tell me, do you agonize for the gospel? One day God will look over us and he won't be looking for medals, won't be looking for awards, won't be looking for theological degrees. He'll be looking for spiritual scars. Tell me, what is your appreciation of the gospel? A message of power, salvation, holiness, eternal purpose, grace, and incorruptible life. Hallelujah. What a Savior.