If you have your Bibles this morning, you can be turning to 2 Timothy 2. Let's go to the Lord in prayer again before we begin. Father, again we come to you humbly this morning. We come to you, Lord, as seekers. We look for a message from your Word today. Father, for a message from the heart of God, we pray that you would speak to us through your word. The Holy Spirit is its author. We pray that he might be with us in a special way today. Speak to our hearts. Teach us the things we need to see from the scriptures today, Father. Draw us closer to you in this time together as brothers and sisters in Christ, as members of the family of God. Draw us closer to you. Teach us the things we need to see today, Father. We pray that You might impact each of our lives in a way that there might be better witnesses for you, more effective servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. We commit this service to you, Father, in Jesus name. Amen. Second Timothy is an epistle that was written by the Apostle Paul. He was the earthly author. Of course, we know the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author of all scripture, but it provides us with the last recorded words of the Apostle Paul in his life. He's coming very close to the end of his life. He's at the point when he wrote 2 Timothy. He was incarcerated in a Roman prison. This was the second time that he'd been imprisoned in Rome. Apparently, we get the impression that this was maybe part of Nero's persecution, that Paul had been arrested. He'd been thrown in prison. Now Nero had this unworldly hatred of Christianity. And so he did his best to stamp it out. He blamed the Christians for all of the ills that he could think of in the Roman government. And the Roman government had plenty. It would be like someone in America blaming all of the ills of America on Christians. I'm sorry, the ills of America are not to be laid at the feet of Christians in general or Christianity. Some of the ills in America can be laid at the foundation of churches because we haven't done the job that we should have in training every generation, granted, we'll grant that, but we're not responsible for all of the ills of this nation. The sin is at the root of every ill and every evil in this country and as it was in Rome. But Paul, at this point, he's been imprisoned by Nero and there's, in Paul's mind, there don't seem to be any expectations that he's going to be released from prison this time. Second Timothy four and verse six tells us, he says to Timothy, I'm now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand. Tradition tells us that Paul was executed there in that prison sometime after this, not terribly long after these words were written. At this point in his ministry, most of his ministry partners had left him for one reason or another. Some may have gone off to some other field to carry the gospel. Some may have become discouraged because Paul was in prison. They didn't see a good way out of this. There were many other reasons, perhaps, that could have come into play. But at this point, the word that we get from Paul is that Luke is the only one left with him. And Luke is there. I'm sure Luke's got pen in hand, and he's jotting down everything that he can get out of Paul. He's squeezing that orange to get every drop of juice out of it, so to speak, so that he can record that and he can share everything that he knows about Paul. But he's there with him, and we see that in verse 11 of 2 Timothy 4, when he says, only Luke is with me. But then he says this. He's speaking to Timothy now. He's writing to Timothy. He says, take Mark and bring him with you, for he's profitable to me for the ministry. He says, Timothy, I want you to swing by wherever Mark happens to be. and pick him up. Remember, this is John Mark. This is the Mark he's referring to as the author of the Gospel of Mark. And you remember, we've talked about this before, how that on the first missionary journey, when Paul and Barnabas went out, they took Mark with them, and Mark left early. When it came time for him to go back and visit the churches that they had established the second time, Paul said, I don't want to take Mark with us. because he left us too soon, and we don't know why. We have no idea. Scripture doesn't tell us. It could be he was just young enough that he became disillusioned. It could have been something pulling him back, whatever. Paul said, I don't want to take him. But at this point in Paul's life, he says, he's profitable to me. He's not giving up on John Mark. And isn't that good? Paul gave second chances. We serve a God who gives second chances, and he teaches us to do the same thing. So we see that exemplified here. Now Paul's, he's in prison, we see that here in this epistle, but his intention had been to carry the gospel to Rome all along. But he had intended to carry it as a free man, not as a prisoner in a Roman prison. Because we read in Romans chapter 15, if you will, just hold your place here, turn back to Romans 15. I'll read you this. Paul had always wanted to go to Rome and visit these folks. of them. He had been in contact with them apparently before, some of them. Look at verse 24 of Romans 15. He says, Whensoever I take my journey, now he's writing to the Rome church, the Christians in Rome. Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you. For I trust to see you in my journey and to be brought on my way thitherward by you. If first I be somewhat filled with your company. He says, I want to carry the gospel to Spain. but I wanna swing by Rome on the way, and I wanna meet with you folks, and I wanna be encouraged by you. And then verse 28 of that same chapter, he says, when therefore I perform this, and that this, he said, before I can do this, I need to run an errand to Jerusalem. I need to support the Christians who are there. He says, when therefore I perform this and have sealed to them this fruit, I'll come by you into Spain. So Paul had every intention in the past of getting to Rome, as a free man, swinging by there, ministering to these people, and then swinging on into Spain. He had high aspirations, didn't he? Paul was, in his mind, he was constantly working. Where can I carry the gospel next? Where can I bring the ministry of Jesus Christ next? Well, that was his intention. God's intentions were different. And sometimes we can lay all kinds of plans, and the Lord will say, not so fast there. I've got different plans for you. Sometimes they may not be the most pleasant things from our perspective, but it's God's glory that is the most important thing. And he was going to be glorified in Paul, even while he's in the prison in Rome. In Acts chapter nine, shortly after Paul was saved, you remember he met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. He went on in his travels, but he was told or It was said of him in Acts chapter nine, verse 15, that he was going to testify before Gentiles and kings. Well, that's where he's at. He's in Rome where the emperor is. And he has been able to share the gospel with people that were soldiers who were guarding him. At this point, he's also been able to share the gospel with people of Caesar's household. Nero has heard of him. Nero apparently was afraid of him and had him put in prison. And so the gospel is being, it's made its way to Rome on Nero's home turf, maybe not the way that Paul had intended, but it was the way God had intended. So Paul's here in prison, and at this point, he's writing in 2 Timothy, and he's been warning Timothy that apostasy is coming into the churches. He says, Timothy, you need to watch out for this. There are people who are coming in, influential leaders within the local churches. They're changing what they used to believe. They're changing what they used to stand on. They're changing the way they lead these churches. He says false doctrine is making its way into several of the local churches. In 2 Timothy 1, in verse 15, he said, thou knowest, again, talking to Timothy, thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from thee. All those churches that Paul had gone into Asia Minor, and he had had a part in reaching those people, he says, they've turned away from him now. And I've got a feeling, and that's most likely not that they were turning away from Paul. His concern, that didn't concern him. Paul didn't so much care whether people liked him or not. I think his main concern was they were turning away from what he had taught them. The gospel message that he had presented, he said, they're turning their back on that. They're corrupting it. They're teaching things that are against what Scripture has. And Paul's concern, I think, was that the faith of some of these people in these churches was being threatened by this false teaching. It was being disrupted. And so he's warning Timothy about this apostasy. All of that disturbed Paul. But I think what we see in 2 Timothy here is Paul was likely feeling that all of this false doctrine, these leaders turning away from the Lord, he was afraid they were going to discourage Timothy. Paul had spent a lot of time teaching Timothy and training him to be a pastor, to be a missionary, to lead these people. And I think he's very concerned at this point. Timothy, I can't be with you right now. You need to come see me. We need to talk again. And he wants to build up his faith. And these epistles, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, He's teaching him, don't listen to the false teachers. You stick to what you know to be true. Stick to the Word of God. And that's very important in the day that we live in, isn't it? We've got to stick to the Word of God because there is a lot of false teaching going around in our country today. There are a lot of churches that have succumbed to that. We are approaching a point in America where apostasy is creeping in the churches. And so we've got to be careful with that. Paul, I think he realized that though Timothy had had a good training, he could still be impacted by a bad apple here and there. We can as well. So we have to be cautious, don't we, in what we believe. We have to stick to the Word of God. So Paul wrote to Timothy. He's been writing to him to encourage him in his faith and in his ministry. Timothy, don't give up. Stick to your guns. Swing by and get Mark. He can be an encouragement to both of us. Bring him to see me when you come. So today we're gonna look at part of that encouragement that Paul was giving to Timothy. And the truth is, what Paul was trying to point out was that the church that Timothy loves so well, the church that Paul loved so well, and by that I mean the overall church, not just each local congregation or any particular congregation. He says the church has a very sure and firm foundation, and that's what we're gonna look at this morning. He said, regardless of the fact that there might be some false teaching, regardless of the fact that there may be some people turning away from their first faith or their first love of the Lord, the church has a very sure and firm foundation. And so the title of this morning's message is The Church's Sure Foundation. And we see that here in 2 Timothy. I'm going to read one verse here, 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 19. If you'll look there with me. It's our text for this message. It says, nevertheless, nevertheless, of all the things I've been telling you about Timothy, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. He says the church of God has a sure foundation. We're gonna talk about what that means. Hold your place here again, if you will. Turn back to Isaiah chapter 28. I want to show you something here. We're going to talk about something that we see here in Isaiah 28 as well, as we talk about the foundation. First thing we're going to talk about is the origin of this foundation of the church of God. Isaiah chapter 28, look at verse 16. We read these words, Therefore, thus sayeth the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. A sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste. He's talking about the foundation of the church there. And who does it say lays that foundation? God is the one who laid that foundation. That's always a sure foundation, isn't it? God is the one who laid the foundation of the stone. He's the origin of it or the foundation of the church. And he describes it as a stone. That picture is the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? That illustration carries throughout the Old Testament and even into the New Testament. Psalm 118 verse 22 tells us this, the stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. Speaking of constructing a building in that day, you would lay a stone foundation, you would have one cornerstone. It would be the one that set the direction of which way the building was going to face, how it was going to run. North, south, east, west, you set that stone and then everything else is measured from that stone for the remainder of your foundation. He said, that's the stone. The builders rejected it. Who were the builders? The builders of the Jewish religion. They rejected Christ, didn't they? They said, we don't want him. We don't want him to be our master. He's not going to be our Messiah. We want something else to be our Messiah. They rejected it. But God said, he's my stone. I'm going to build a church. I'm going to build an organization, if you will, or an organism, more appropriately, of believers. And Jesus is that stone. But he goes further than that there in Isaiah. He said, I'm going to set a tried stone. A tried stone, that term tried, it means tested. It means proven. Matthew chapter four and verse one, we're told that then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. that is tested or tried by the devil. This is right after his baptism. He was led into the desert, and Satan tried his best to tempt him. He tried his best to get him to do something that would disqualify him from being the cornerstone of the church, the foundation stone of the church. And Jesus passed every one of those tests, didn't he? We don't pass those tests so well, but he did. But that's okay, because we're not the foundation of the church. Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church. He has never been shaken. He never will be shaken. Satan tried his very best to tempt it, and it didn't work. He used, what did he use? You remember, he used the word of God. For every temptation that Satan put in front of him, he quoted scripture to him. And then what are we told? Satan left him for a time. He realized, I'm not getting anywhere. What did he realize? An old saying, we hear it. I'm beating my head up against a stone here and I'm not getting anywhere. Yes, that's exactly what he was doing. That stone was Jesus Christ. He was a tried stone. He was a tested stone. Hebrews 4 verse 15 tells us, we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Satan did tempt him and he was tempted just like we would have been. but he didn't yield to the temptation. He did not sin. He is a tried stone. God says, I'm going to build a church. I'm going to have a stone as that solid foundation. It's going to be a tried stone. And he says in Isaiah there, he's a precious corner stone. Precious. First Peter two, verse seven says unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious. You put your faith in Jesus Christ. Is there anyone or anything more precious than that? to know that this is the one who left the glory of heaven and He came and He suffered for us. He lived a sinless life and then He suffered for each one of us. He shed His blood for us that we might be saved if we put our faith in Him. That's a precious cornerstone, isn't it? And He gets more precious all the time, doesn't He? When trials come, when difficulties come, we lean on Him and He shows that preciousness. and we draw closer to it. That's the way it should be, isn't it? But Isaiah went further than that too. He said, not only, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone. Yes, a tried stone. Yes, a precious cornerstone. Yes. But then what did he say? A sure foundation. The church has a sure foundation and it will never be shaken. First Corinthians Chapter 3 and verse 11 tells us, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. See, that's the problem I think that Paul was addressing to Timothy. He's saying these people, there are some false teachers who are coming in, some of the leaders in the local congregations, they're adding some things to the foundation. They're saying, yeah, but your church is okay. Jesus Christ is okay, but we need to add some other stuff. There's nothing we need to add to the foundation of the church. Jesus Christ alone is a foundation of a church, and we are built upon that. We each one of us is, it's like we're a building block laid on top of that foundation. We may weaken. That foundation stone never does. Acts chapter four, verses 11 and 12, we read this, and this is, it goes back to that verse we read in Psalm 118. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." The Sanhedrin had called the apostles in front of them, before them. These are the days not long after the Lord Jesus had ascended into heaven. They're preaching in the name of Jesus Christ. They've been told not to, and they're doing it anyway. They said, we have to, we don't have a choice. Jesus Christ is alive. You're telling people he's dead. He's not dead. He's alive. He's the foundation of our church. And we have to continue to pray. And he says, yes, he's the stone. You guys kicked him aside. You said he was worthless. He's not worthless. He's the foundation of the church. And we're going to preach that till the day we die. And these men had incredible bravery, didn't they? We talked about this before. These are the men who ran away when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. They were terrified. They hid in an upper room for days after that. When the Holy Spirit came upon them, they had bravery like no one has ever had before. No one's ever had since. And so they're saying this, he's our sure foundation. Takeaway is the foundation of the church is not of our making, is it? We may build upon it, but we didn't make the foundation. We can't change the foundation. We can't modify it. John chapter, first John rather, chapter four and verse 14 says, the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. The father, God the father is the one who set that foundation stone in place. And there's no better pedigree than that, is there? We couldn't find any better building material if we wanted to. We could find the best Christian, the best example of a Christian that we could find, and we can't build a church on that person because that person is going to fail. But never will Jesus Christ fail us, will he? False teachers, I think Paul is trying to say here, they may weaken the church or they may weaken individual congregations with their false teaching, but they're not gonna shake the foundation of that church because it's built on something solid. It is built on a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. That's what God told us in Isaiah chapter 28, isn't it? That's the origin of our foundation. It comes from God himself. Now let's talk about the foundation's quality. Not just its origin, let's talk about the quality of the foundation we have. Look again, our text, 2 Timothy 2, verse 19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every name that nameth, every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The foundation of God stands sure. That term sure, it's from a Greek word and it means steadfast. It means strong, but it means more than that. It means immovable. The foundation stone that the church is built on is never going to move. It's as though it's built on bedrock because nothing can ever shake the Lord Jesus Christ, can it? The devil thought he had won when Jesus took his last breath on the cross, didn't he? I've succeeded, he's dead. Three days later, he had to change his story a little bit, didn't he? He's not dead. He had the power to give his life, and he had the power to raise again from the dead, or rise again from the dead. And he'll never die again. He is alive forevermore. And he is powerful, and he is the foundation that the church is built on. That's quality workmanship. That's quality material, isn't it? It'll never shake. You ever see any building material that you can that you could say that about. The most impressive structures known to man. Can't say that. They can be shaken. They can deteriorate, can't they? But then it says, not only does it standeth sure, but that term standeth, that's a Greek term and it's in the perfect tense. And you think, don't lay grammar on me. I gave that up years and years ago. Perfect tense, it means this, or it has this indication. It means something that has stood in the past with the present condition that it continues to stand and it will continue to stand through the future. So when we're told that the foundation of God standeth sure, It's been standing sure. It stands sure today, and it's gonna stand sure from now on. And nothing will shake it from now on. We can bet on that. That's not a good term. We shouldn't be betting on things. We can count on the fact that our foundation will never change. And Paul says, nevertheless, forget all that stuff that I've been telling you, Timothy, about how apostasy's coming, about how there's false teachers and all that. Nevertheless, regardless of the church's present condition, He says its foundation is permanently immovable. Isn't that good news for Timothy, for Mark, for Christians who may have been suffering in these local congregations where people were coming in saying, I know that Paul taught you this, but let's let that aside. I know that the scriptures say this, but this is today. They were written hundreds, thousands of years ago that they don't apply to us anymore. That's old fashioned. You ever hear anything like that in 2025 America? We hear that all the time, don't we? Well, that was written to the Ephesians or the Colossians or people we don't even know. That was written to people that the places don't even exist anymore. I'm sorry, that's the word of God and it is settled. We talk about the foundation of the church being settled. So is the word of God. It will never change. It has been established forever. And Paul could say, nevertheless, regardless of that condition, or whatever the church's present condition might be, its foundation is permanently immovable. It's built on the matchless Son of God. It's built on the faultless Son of God. It is built on the Son of God, who never changes. And the gates of hell will never prevail against it. Is that not good news? For every one of us sitting here today, people can do what they will to try and destroy the church. And they are. The devil is working very diligently to destroy the church. And he's done it by casting things against the church. He's done it by getting inside of churches. There are insidious things that happen inside of churches that can destroy them. And we've all heard stories of very well-known Christians, people with high positions in churches and denominations and religions, and they fail miserably. And what happens? They drag the reputation of the organization they're a part of through the mud, but they drag the name of Jesus Christ through the mud. But you know what? He's still a solid foundation. We may drag his name through the mud, but we will not shake him. He is permanently immovable. And that's what Paul is saying here. Hebrews 13, verse eight tells us Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has always been immovable. He always will be immovable. And so that is the quality of the foundation that we have in the church. The next thing we see in this passage in our text is the seal of this foundation of the church. Look at the 2 Timothy 2.19 again. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The church's foundation And therefore the building that would be built on that foundation is protected by a seal. That's what God is telling us here. And we've heard about the seal that would be put on a building before or other things. I want to read you some words from Chuck Swindoll dealing with this passage. He said, Paul drew upon the familiar imagery of a building cornerstone bearing an official seal. A seal carved into the stone protecting the building against intrusion or destruction. It communicated an implicit warning to any potential violator. Harm this building and you'll answer to me. It's as though God has put a seal on the church, on that foundation stone. You mess with my church and you will deal with me. That's what's happening around the world. That's what's happened through the ages. People have attacked the church, and they've had to deal with God over that, haven't they? Some people have attacked the church, and the way that God dealt with them was he changed their hearts, and he brought them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and they regretted having attacked the church. Some of them became incredible witnesses for the Lord. Others have attacked the church, and it didn't end so well for them. It's a warning there for anyone who will attack the church of Jesus Christ. It is immovable. Our foundation is immovable. You may do some level of damage to the church, but it has been sealed. And the seal that God has put on it, it protects the integrity of the cornerstone and it protects the integrity of every stone that'll be laid upon it. And it relied on the, when an official would seal a building, that cornerstone, it relied on the authority and the importance of the person who sealed it. In the case of, we've talked about this before just recently, when Jesus was buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, the stone was rolled over it and the official seal was put on it. That said, by authority of the Roman government, the Roman governor, don't touch this stone. Don't move it. Don't even get near it. under penalty of law. Well, that was, to those people, that was important. I'm gonna tell you what, someone a whole lot more worthy, a whole lot more powerful than Pilate, the Roman governor, has sealed the foundation stone of the church. That's God himself, isn't it? Psalm 90 in verse two tells us about this one who's put this seal on the church's foundation. It says, before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou has formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, our God. We're talking about the God of all creation, the God of all power, the God of all presence. He's the one who's put this seal. Psalm 93 in verse two says, thy throne is established of old. Again, thou art from everlasting. Our God's never changing. He's not going away. He has set his seal and he will protect. this foundation stone. Daniel 4, chapter 4, verses 34 and 35, they refer to God as this, in this manner. He's the most high, him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him what to us thou. Our God does what he wills in the armies of heaven or in other people, the inhabitants of the earth. Biggest enemy that we have other than our own sin nature is the devil himself, but he answers to God. He's been taught, he's been called the prince or the God of this world, and that is true, but that does not trump the God of all creation in any way, form or fashion, does it? He cannot destroy the church because we have this sure foundation. And so we've got this seal of God. This seal carries the full weight of Almighty God. Satan, he wanted to obliterate his foundation. I said that a minute ago, didn't I? He wanted to, but he couldn't because he is no match for the rock that the church is built on. Because the rock that our church is built on is the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? He's no match for him. He is the stone. He is the tried stone, as we read in Isaiah. He is the precious cornerstone. He is our sure foundation. And so we have this sure foundation has been sealed. And we're told here in this verse that the seal has a couple of inscriptions. One is the Lord knoweth them that are his. That speaks to the church's security. The second seal. is let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. That speaks to the church's purity. So it speaks about the church's security and to its purity. Let's think about that first one. The Lord knoweth them that are his. John 10 and verse 14, the Lord Jesus speaking says, I'm the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. I know my sheep. I know every one of them. And we read in one of the stories that Jesus told his disciples of a shepherd who had a hundred sheep, and one of them wandered away. And he said, not on my watch. He left the 99 in the care of someone, and he went looking for that one sheep that had wandered off. And he found him, and he brought him back. He says, I know my sheep, and I am known of my sheep. They know me. Shepherds, people who deal with sheep, have said that sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd. and they won't go to someone else. You read in the New Testament of the custom of there would be a sheepfold and maybe several shepherds would bring their sheep into that fold to protect them at night. Nothing could get to them. No one could steal them. Animals couldn't get there. And there'd be one person that would be at the door of the sheepfold that would not let anything in and he wouldn't let anything out. And in the morning, The shepherds could get some rest that way at night, and in the morning, the shepherds would go, and one by one, they'd come up to the sheep, and they would call to their sheep, and their sheep would come to them, and they would lead them away from the foal. No one else's sheep would come to that shepherd, because they didn't recognize his voice. The next shepherd would come up, and this process would go on until all the sheep had been regathered to their shepherds. That's what he's speaking of here. I'm the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. I'm known to them. Nye tells us that whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. What is that telling us? God knew us ahead of time. He knew who he was going to draw to himself, who would be the sheep of his pasture. And so Jesus could say, I know them. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 3 says, if any man loved God, the same is known of him. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have that love for Him. You are known by Him. He knows exactly who you are. He knows exactly where you are every day, every night. No matter what you're going through, He's right there and He knows it. The true church consists of those who have come to Christ in saving faith. We know that. John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Those who put their faith in him become one of his sheep. They are known of him, and they know him. John 11, verses 25 and 26, we read, Jesus said, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. He knows his church. And if we put our faith in him, we may draw our last breath here. But we'll open our eyes in heaven and we will be with him throughout all eternity. We have that hope. We have that promise of scripture. The Lord knows his own. He knows them for certain. And he can never be fooled. We can be fooled, can't we? We've probably all of us have known some people that would say, yeah, I'm a good Christian. I go to church. I give and I put money in the offering plate. I read my Bible. I don't do too bad. I do pretty good things. I don't do a lot of bad things and all of that. And it may sound good. They may say the right words. They may attend church alongside people every day or every week. And then all of a sudden something happens. And it seems very clear that person is not a Christian. They couldn't have, what they've gotten themselves into seems that it doesn't align with someone and that's faith in Christ. Now, I'm not saying that Christians are sinless. We're not. We've all sinned. We continue to sin from time to time. But sometimes something will happen and you make it very clear that no matter what this person said, they fooled us for a while, but they're not believers. And that saddens us, doesn't it? Because we don't want to see someone going through life thinking they're a Christian or claiming to be a Christian when it's clear they're not. We want to see them saved, don't we? So we may be fooled, but the Lord will never be fooled. He knows who is his own. He knows them. Paul's message to Timothy was, Timothy, don't worry about these false teachers. Don't worry about the people who are coming in, these leaders in those local congregations who may be changing, these people who may not be saved. Don't you worry about that. You worry about staying the course. You worry about staying firm on the word of God because the church is not going to be shaken beyond repair because we have a firm foundation. He says, you let the Lord sort things out because he knows his own. These others may be in these churches. They may be causing trouble. But if they're not Christians, if they've never put their faith in Christ, he will take care of that. We have to reach that point sometimes, don't we? That we can't fix everything. We have to leave it to the Lord because he knows his own. That's one of the seals of this foundation of the church. The Lord knoweth them that are his. The second one is let everyone that know that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. John 14, verse 15 says, The Lord speaking to his disciples, to us by extension, if you love me, you can say the rest, keep my commandments. Obedience is a part of our Christian faith, isn't it? We obey the word. The true church is filled with people who are determined to reject sin in their lives. They may not always succeed at that. There may be sin from time. There is no Christian walking the earth who is sinless. Scripture is very clear. All have sinned. We have all come short of the glory of God. And some Christians, let's face it, are terribly flawed. They still are. Could be any one of us here who could come to that realization, I am terribly flawed. But a true Christian hates that sin. They don't love it. They want to be rid of it, don't they? People may have a besetting sin of one kind or another. but they seek the Holy Spirit's aid to purge it out of their lives, don't they? And if someone can say, yeah, I'm a Christian, but I don't have any, there's things that I like to do, and I'm not gonna give those up. I don't care what the Bible says. I think you can mark it down, that person's not really saved. If someone has put their faith in Jesus Christ, sin may come into their lives, but they don't like it. They don't want it there, they want it out, and they'll pray that the Holy Spirit would give them the ability to get rid of it. The gist is, as we look at these seals, God knows His own, without our having to remind Him. We don't have to go around, God, I'm one of yours. He knows if you are. God, look at what I just did. I went to church today and I did this and this and this. He knows. And He knows exactly why you did it, too. Were you doing it so you'd be seen? Or were you doing it because you love Him and you want to obey Him and you want to serve Him? He knows all of those things, so we don't have to tell him, but though we don't need to tell the Lord that we're saved, we do need to obey him and live obedient lives so that we can show the world around us that we are Christians, that we love him, because they don't know. The only way they're going to know is if we show it, if we demonstrate it, if we behave ourselves in a way that honors the Lord. if we dress in a way that honors the Lord. This summertime, there's a whole lot of people who may say they're Christians, but if you were to see them around a pool, you'd wonder, wouldn't you, about the way they dress? Modesty is just thrown out the window. We show the world around us that we are Christians by the way we talk, don't we? You remember the night that Jesus was arrested? Peter, he came and he was sitting within sight of where they were questioning the Lord Jesus and people around, he was sitting around a campfire and the people were saying, you're one of his disciples, aren't you? No, no, no, I don't know the man. He was still afraid. And someone at one point says, I know you're one of them. You sound like one of his disciples. You sound like one of those Galileans. And some say that it was, maybe it was the dialect or the accent that he spoke with. I think it was. Peter's words had been tempered by his life with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was speaking in such a way that they saw grace in what he said, even in conversation. Because after they accused him and they said, no, your speech gives you away, he began to curse at that point. He remembered those cuss words that he used to use. And he threw some of those out there to throw them off his scent, so to speak. No, our behavior should show that we are Christians. what we say, what we do, what we think, what we take enjoyment or pleasure in, all of that. We need to demonstrate obedience to the Lord because that's the only way the world around us is gonna know. Jesus knows. The God we serve knows whether we're Christians or not, but other people, we have to show them, don't we? And so that's this seal. Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. I'm gonna quote Swindoll again on this. He says, those who claim to be God's own yet continue to walk in sin, bring shame upon the church, and they promote a toxic faith. That's true, isn't it? So we have to be careful from that. Even from a Roman prison, excuse me, Paul recognized that a toxic kind of faith was taking hold on local churches. The things that he had heard, he had had visitors, he had seen what was going on in local congregations. He said, there's a toxicity in this modern religion that people are bringing forth, this thing that people are teaching, things that are wrong. He knew that Timothy and other people in church leadership, they were gonna experience this firsthand. As they tried to minister to people, people were gonna say, why do we have to do this? Because the church over there's not doing it. Why do we sing these old hymns when that church over there's singing stuff that makes us wanna tap our feet? We sing the old hymns because they honor the Lord that we serve. He's an old God. And there's nothing wrong with old songs that praise his name, but there's a lot to be said that's wrong with new songs that don't praise his name, or that don't glorify him, or that don't lead us to worship. I'm not saying that a good Christian song might not make you want to tap your feet, but that's not the point. Tapping our feet is irrelevant. We need to be worshiping the Lord, don't we? And so Paul, he knew that Timothy and others, they were going to experience some of this apostasy. He knew that local congregations might be weakened by it. People's faith was going to be weakened. But what was he able to say? That though he knew those things, he also knew that the church's foundation was Jesus Christ, and it was going to continue to stand sure. It was going to continue to be permanently immovable. And he says, Timothy, don't you worry about these things. You stay true to the word of God. I would say that to everyone in this room. Don't worry about what the rest of the world might be doing. Worry about the word of God. Let's put our focus there and let's continue to worship God, because as as Paul would tell Timothy, the church's foundation is standing sure, Timothy, it still is today, some 2,000 years later. Though Satan continues to fight the church with all of his might, he will continue to fail every time because the church has a solid foundation. 2 Timothy 2.19, look at it again. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. It's never going to falter. because that is our Lord Jesus Christ. If you would bow your heads this morning as we come to a close. If you're here this morning and you have trusted Jesus Christ, be thankful this morning. Thank the Lord where you sit that we have a sure foundation. It's not going to change. It's not going to move. It's not going to rot. It's not going to crumble. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If you're here this morning and you've never trusted Christ, I would encourage you to come to Him for salvation. and begin to build your life on that sure foundation that we've been talking about. He welcomes any who will come to him with open arms. And he says, come unto me and I'll give you rest. And I'll tell you what, if you've never trusted Christ, there's an unrest for sin in your life. And you know that you face eternal damnation because of that. So come to Christ for that rest. If you've never done that today, I would invite you to do it. You can do it right where you sit. Father, thank you so much for your goodness to us. Thank you so much for these words of encouragement. The Church of Jesus Christ is built on that solid rock. It is the rock of God. It is a stone. It is a tested, it's a tried stone. It's a precious cornerstone. It is a sure foundation. And we're thankful for that. We're thankful that though the devil may hurl all kinds of insults at us, he may hurl all kinds of weapons against us. We may be driven to our knees from time to time by his attacks, but the church will stand fast because it has a solid foundation. Thank you so much for that. Father, as Christians, Would you help us to grow daily in our reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ as our solid foundation? If there happens to be anyone under the sound of my voice who's never trusted Christ, would you bring them to that point now where they simply reach out and ask Jesus Christ to save them from their sin and bring them to that point where they are a stone that has now been built on that solid foundation, a part of the local church. Thank you so much for your word. Draw us closer to you through it. Father, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.