who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling. We talked about that verse last Thursday we were together. And we talked about how no one was in Christ, no one could have been in Christ until Christ shows up. And we can't confuse God's eternal purpose with God's dealing with man in time. And we opened up that text. It says, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace. which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And we unpacked that very carefully last Thursday. But is now made manifest, verse 10, by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. And so we see in this text now God's purpose in time It was made manifest or it appeared when Christ now showed up on the scene. You didn't have Jesus. We've always had Jesus. He's eternal. But the humanity is what we're talking about here. He appeared in a body of human flesh, was 100% man just like you and I are, man, but not a sinner like we are. So verse number 10 talks about, "...but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death." Now death hasn't been completely done away with because Revelation talks about how death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire and that's going to happen eventually. But this text says, who hath abolished death. So we're gonna open that up a little bit and we'll need Hebrews 2. You should have your place already set for Hebrews chapter number 2. And look at verse number 14. Hebrews 2, 14, Bible says, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, Here it is, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. So before you and I got saved, we rightly could say, look, I fear death. I don't want to die. So when it says that Christ has abolished death, it says, who hath abolished death in 2 Timothy, that's a reference here, we get the picture here in Hebrews 2. He destroyed the power of death, meaning death had power over you and I. But through Jesus Christ, now we are delivered. And He's defeated death on the cross. We don't have to spend our lifetime now, Hebrews 2, saying that we're in subject to bondage. He abolished it. He made it void by an act of authority. And that authority He took by His death on the old rugged cross of Calvary. Praise God. So you know what death can't do to you and I anymore as believers? It can't make us fearful. We don't have to fear it. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 49. Watch what else death doesn't have power to do. It can't make you fearful as a believer. And then verse 49, the Bible says, and as we have borne the image of the earthy, We shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." You can't just walk into heaven. You're corrupt. Your body's corrupt. Verse 51, Behold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep. but we shall all be changed. That's referring to our body. Our body's gonna die. And then in a moment, verse 52, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So whether a believer, someone that died yesterday, well, they're dead and in the ground, We might not see death. Christ might appear in the clouds tonight. We might not see death. But whether you see death or don't see death, your body's corrupt. And it can't go into heaven because it's holy and it's incorruptible and that's where God dwells. But we're gonna be changed. And the Bible says, for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. Well, I don't have immortality in my body right now, neither do you. But there's going to come a day when we are going to put on a different flesh suit. We're going to have a different body and it's not going to be vile, it's going to be glorious. It's going to be incorruptible. Verse 54, so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? You know what death can't do? It can't make you fearful of dying anymore, and it can't make you and I fearful of being buried. Well, my body's going to be buried in the ground. It don't matter. God's going to raise it up. Look, what Christ did on the cross guaranteed you and I salvation and a home with Him in heaven, and then a way to get out of this vile body, this corruption, and have something way, way, way better. Do all the push-ups you want. Eat all the organic food that you want. Take all the wrinkle cream and goop it all over your body. It's going to die someday. But God said, don't worry about it. It's a bunch of corruption and I'm going to do something for you as My child. That's what God said. You don't have to fear death. God's got it taken care of. I'd go back to 2 Timothy if you would. 2 Timothy 1. The Bible says in verse 10, it goes on to say, "...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. So, how did he bring life? Well, he brought life by laying down his life. That's what he did for us. The Bible says, I laid down my life that I might take it again. That's John 10. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. Chris, you got power to lay down your life? Me neither. We don't have power to do that. God does. And then he says, and I have power to take it again. This is why any other false prophet or little g-god or anybody else that is trying to steal adoration and steal worship from our Lord, this is why it's all a big farce because they're not coming out of the grave. They can't give up their life, and they can't bring it back. But our Savior can. He's risen. By the way, that's the good news of the Gospel. And you're going to tell a sinner everything that Christ did on the cross, and it's all going to be bad news for them. You got a minute? Why? Oh, I got some bad news for you. Sit down. You're filthy, you're corrupt, you're vile, you're full of sin. Christ died and bled on the cross. They put Him in a tomb. That's bad news. You've got to get them to the good news that He rose again. Not only did He give up His life, but He took it up again. He gave it up and he can raise himself from the grave. So you've got to get to the good news and every other so-called little g-god is dead. And Wilder, guess where they're going to stay? Dead. They died and they're going to stay died. It's not good English, but it's good theology. Okay. So Jesus Christ offers each and every one of us life. Life. Eternal life. And death didn't defeat Him. He defeated death. You know what everybody wants to be on? The winning team. Man, I want to go out there. I want my team to win. I want my team to hit the home run at the last inning so we win. Well, you can't win the game of life. But Jesus Christ can. And if you're in Him, you have eternal life. But it's only through the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he says, and this is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true God. Somebody tries to point you to another God, they're not. God says, I am the only, The, definite article, only, true God. Melanie, that would make every other God what? False. You ever play true and false? He is the only true God. That means every other one, false. Buddha, false. Mary Baker Eddy, false. Harry Krishna, false. Your sports hero, false. The pop stars, false. Your political leader that you think is going to save the nation, false. They're all false. There's only one true God. The other word that's mentioned in here is immortality. Immortality. I want to, let me stay, I already left it, but, well, let's go back there just real quick. Go back to 1 Corinthians 15. I missed something and I want to pick it up. 1 Corinthians 15. It says in verse number 35, I should have went here earlier, but 1 Corinthians 15, 35, the Bible says, well, verse 34, Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. But some men will say, how are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. John talks about it, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, be buried, rise against a picture of what Jesus Christ was going to do. You know, you put a seed in the ground, you think that, I mean, it decays in the ground. But what comes out of that is life. All of your agriculture, It's all a picture of something being buried in the dirt, corrupting, and then coming up with new life. That's what it all is. It's a picture. And you know, when that seed goes in the ground, it dies. Well, it's going to be quickened. But it can't be quickened unless it goes down the ground. And so, Christ goes down. Body, He raises it back up. We're like that. We're going to go down in the dirt. All the way down the dirt, by his own decay, but Christ's gonna bring it up. We're gonna have something that's very glorious and immortal, incorruptible. And that's why the Bible says, and immortality in 2 Timothy chapter number one. You think about immortality. I mean, think about it before you were lost. You don't even have to be lost to think about it like this. I think everybody thinks about it like this. I mean, you just want to survive. If hard times hit, you're in survival mode. I mean, we pack food in our storage cabinet because if something hits, we want to know we're going to have our bodies to be nourished. It's a fight to stay alive. You know, your kid gets hurt, you've got to bring him to the emergency room. You know, you're thankful that it's not as bad as it could have been because you want him to live. Everybody has a desire to live. But the problem is we can't live with immortality without Jesus Christ. So a lost person, you have to look at them through that lens. But you also have to relate to them in this idea is that survival is something that is common and desirable for all men and women. The desire to survive and to stay alive. But I'm telling you, when death knocks on your door, when death knocks on your door and you're not saved, that's where your righteousness stops in the grave. That's where your good works stop. Death just knocked. You're in the grave. And your good works stop when you end up in the grave. It can only take you to the grave, that's it. Your money can't take you farther than the grave. Your good living can't take you farther than the grave. Your religion, your, well my mommy and daddy took me to church, my daddy was a preacher, all that type of stuff, all that talk stops when a lost person ends up in the grave. If you want to get to immortality, you better have life eternal in the one true God. The immortal only wise God, I believe it's also stated as. And it says, And immortality, in 2 Timothy 1, the end of the verse 10, and immortality to light through the gospel. And this is where, leading up to November, and then November leading up to January, and then January leading up to four years down the road for the next November, this is where people start to get off track. They put their hope in something other than the gospel. And they will diminish the power of the gospel by saying things like, well, yeah, the gospel is the most important thing, but what you have to do now is try to change the No, what we have to do now is get baptized, start praying, start witnessing, start worshiping, start singing to the Lord. There's a lot of things that come second before trying to change the political scene. Now I'm gonna vote, and I think all Christians should vote, but my hope is not that this next man will change anything spiritually in our nation. You and I reside in something way, way, way more powerful than a political organization. That's a New Testament church. And we've got to get a hold of this. You and I are part of something so powerful. It's the most powerful organism on the earth. It's Christ's church. So, let's not get off track on what is most important. And let's not diminish it. You want to give somebody some light, give them the gospel. You want to get them out of the darkness of their miserable life? Give them the light of the gospel. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were evil. Young people, You've got to sin in the dark. You do. You've got to hide it. You've got to cover it with something. That toy that you stole from brother or sister and you put it under your pillow or you put it under your bed, guess what's under there? Darkness. And when you take the pillow off and you see you just exposed it by putting some light on it. Now he saw what you stole. That's dark. And when you get older, you know how you're going to sin? You're going to want to try to get away from mom and dad so they don't see it. You're going to try to get away from the preacher who's preaching against sin because he's going to expose it. So you've got to do it in the dark. You've got to do it where nobody sees. Hey, young people, look and pay attention. Sinning is darkness. God's got the Gospel and it shines light on sin. So you would see how wicked you are and trust Him. You get some light in your life. In your eyes, in your ears, in your mind, in the things that your body does now should portray that. Light. If you're a saved man or you're a saved woman tonight, I hope you speak like you're saved to your spouse, to your mother, to your friends, to your brother and sister. Can I get a witness? Okay? Okay? Why would a young person want to get saved when every time they see you at the playground, you're bickering with your brother or sister? Oh yeah, I want that. More fighting. Well, good works won't get you to heaven. No, but it sure will give you a good testimony down here. It's good to do good works. You know what they do at the bar? They turn the lights out. You know what they do at the dance hall? They turn the lights out. You know what they do at a lot of modern churches now? They turn the lights out. Why? Because they're hiding sin, that's why. Why do all these modern churches and all of their architectural style, why are the walls black? Why are the lights down? Because they don't want anybody coming in and exposing what they're doing. And if you do, you might as well just, well, don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you. They'll throw you out of there quicker than you can blink, in the twinkling of an eye, amen. Now, you young people got to figure something out. You're either going to love the darkness or you're going to love the light. And if you love the darkness, you're going to be attracted to the church that looks like a bar or a dance hall. Because in your heart, that's what you've been wanting to do. for five, ten, or however many years. So you can blame mom, you can blame dad, you can blame the mean preacher. I've always been mean. My mother's coming here to visit in another month. Ask her. I've always been a wiseacre. That's not going to change. I'm just trying to use it for the Lord. Praise God. Praise God. Don't get mad at me or your Christian parents because you love darkness and you love sin. Get mad at yourself. And get mad at the devil for deceiving you. And fall in love with God and God's people. So, go to 1 Peter 1. Old Testament saints, they had to wait for life and immortality to be brought to life. Isn't that what we read in 2 Timothy 1? It talks about life and immortality. It had to appear. It had to be manifest. It had to be brought to light. And in 1 Peter 1, look at verse 3. The Bible says, Bless me, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's the hope, the resurrection. Verse number 10, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. So Jesus Christ came, just like the prophets prophesied. But when the prophets were prophesying Jesus, the humanity of God, He didn't appear. He wasn't made manifest. He didn't bring light to the earth. Not in His human form. Not in his human form. So Jesus came. He brought light. He was the light of man, the Bible says. He was the light that shineth in darkness. He was the true light which lighteth every man. And those Old Testament prophets talked about it, but they never experienced it. So when they died, they had a body of corruption and they didn't have Christ's blood shed on the cross yet. All they had was they died in faith. By faith, they believed God on what God had revealed to them. We've got all the truth that we need. Everything we need has been revealed to us. Well, that wasn't true with Moses. That wasn't true with Elijah. That wasn't true to all the men and women in the Old Testament. They could trust God by faith, and just like Abraham, by faith God imputed His righteousness to their account. But when they died, they didn't go to hell. But when they died, guess what else they couldn't do? Go to heaven. They couldn't be with the Lord. The blood sacrifice hadn't been made. They had a weight for life and immortality to be brought to light. And so Jesus came. He died. And Ephesians 4 talks about it. He set captivity captive. And then paradise. They were in paradise. Abraham's care. The bosom of Abraham. Abraham's bosom. That's what that means. The care of Abraham. And now, after Christ did all He needed to do, now all those Old Testament saints can go be with the Lord. But light, it had to be brought to light. He had to come. And so that's very, very important to get a hold of. I go to 2 Timothy 1 again. Change gears on this next verse. 2 Timothy 1. Watch what it says in verse number 11. Bible says, Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. This is Paul speaking of himself under the Holy Spirit's inspiration. Preachers are what carnal Christians and the world can't stand. They don't like preachers. They'd be okay with a teacher. I mean the Bible talks about they're going to heap to themselves teachers. They're not going to heap to themselves preachers because they hate preachers. Because preachers are the ones who don't beat around the bush. Preachers are the ones that tell you what you don't want to hear. Preachers are the ones that you would call them harsh but they're really trying to give you a hard truth. By the way, I'm not condoning nor am I nor would I ever get on board with contributing to what would be a bully pulpit just to beat people up. We are to edify the saints. That's what preaching is supposed to do. But a lot of times, you've got to hear what you don't want to hear. The preacher has to kick your sin. And it's not an easy job. They don't like preachers. That's why they want to put the golden handcuffs on them. Hey, look, we got a good salary for you. We got a parsonage for you. You keep quiet, we'll take care of you. And a lot of them are wearing the golden handcuffs because this world and carnal Christians don't like preachers. They don't want a guy like John the Baptist coming to their church house. He'll start messing the whole country club thing up. Paul's a preacher. You know what we need nowadays? We need more preachers. Young men, pay attention. We need preachers. I'm not telling you you're called to preach. I'm just telling you this world needs preachers. Someone that's going to lift their voice. Isaiah 58, verse 1 says, a preacher cries aloud. He shouts. He lifts up his voice. He warns the people. He tells them about their transgression and their sin. Read Isaiah 58. That's what preachers do. Not these carnival clowns that tiptoe around every little thing because they don't want to offend anybody. If you're not getting offended in church, you might as well find a church where you can go to get offended. I mean, look, I want to be offended. I want God's Word to rub me the wrong way so I can start getting cleaner. I want to be holier. I want my family to be holier. I don't want to stay dirty. I want to think better. I want to live better. We need preaching. We need preaching. I'm encouraged when I go to meetings or go on vacation and visit a church where, man, that's great, I can hear some more preaching. It's good to see another preacher that's out there fighting the fight. Man, that encourages me to keep going on. Jesus said, follow Me and let the dead bury their dead. Well, that's rude. Jesus said, oh, generation of vipers. Well, that's not nice. I said, what you said the other day isn't nice. Well, I'm a preacher. I'm not supposed to be nice. You can't use that as an excuse for everything. But what I'm trying to say here is Jesus said some things that weren't very nice. The Bible says in Matthew 15, let them alone. Jesus said, they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Well, that's sarcastic. Jesus was preaching. Ye fools and blind, ye serpents. Well, don't call names. Jesus was calling names. Why? Because He was preaching. Hypocrites, as it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. You talk about getting to the bottom line real quick. That's what a preacher does. That's what Jesus did. Brother, He was rude at times. He was sarcastic at times. He got to the bottom line quicker than anybody wanted to. He called names and He did all that without ever sinning. Now, we can't do that. But I'll tell you what, That's preaching. That's what preaching will do. Jesus rubbed especially those leaders. He rubbed them the way they needed to be rubbed so they'd wake up. You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father's ye will do. Well, that offends me. This new lingo of this offends me. I'm offended. I'm triggered. The only time we got triggered as kids is when mom and dad had just had enough and we got it. And we were triggered, alright? We were triggered right back into line. We never, we never had a room set aside with Plato and coloring books as a form of chastisement or unwinding. It was the wrath of dad's belt coming down. or mom coming after us to get us in line. They just itch your ear, itch your ear, itch your ear. We need preachers! We need preachers. Man, Brother Jimmy, you're just too hard on people, you know. That whole Bible thing, that King James Bible. You know what I want in my King James Bible? Because my Bible tells me in 2 Timothy 1, verse 10, Paul says he was a preacher. I don't want a herald. That's why I don't read in NIV. That's why I don't want you reading in NIV. I don't want a herald. I want a preacher. This book's right. And I don't need a Greek text to tell me or to tell you we need preaching. A preacher, not a herald. A preacher. Jesus is our example. He's our example. We'll get through this. Go to 1 Peter 2 and John 6. 1 Peter 2 and John 6 in your other hand. You kids don't have to get up early for school tomorrow, do you? So you got plenty of time. Amen. Good. Good. It's much better than listening to Joe Biden talk about nothing. 1 Peter 2, 21. 1 Peter 2, 21. Now, after everything we said about Jesus, watch what it says in 1 Peter 2, verse 21. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in His steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." Is Christ your example? He is, if you're saved. I hope there's no guile found in your mouth. I hope you live in such a way as to always look down the path of doing right and not sinning, rather than just getting so easily pulled in the other direction. But Christ's our example. So Christ, as our example, watch what happens in John 6. He's our example. And all the things that we said, some of the verses that we mentioned regarding what Jesus said. Now watch John 6, verse 60. It's a very convicting passage. John 6, 60. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? There's nothing special about me at all. And there's nothing real special about the men that I've learned from and the preachers that I know very well. There's nothing special about any of them or myself. It's just that we give the hard sayings. That's all it is. It's just going through the Bible and talking about all of it And you're going to come to a point where you're going to think in your head, man, that's hard. That's a hard saying. Now, if it's coming from me, you can probably argue out of it and convince yourself that I was wrong and you were right and it was too hard. Because I'm just a man. But we're talking about Jesus. This is Jesus. He's never wrong. Never. So watch what happens. Verse 61, when Jesus knew in Himself that the disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth this offend you? You offended, guys? What, and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. Well, He pretty much let them have it. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray Him. And He said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto Me except it were given unto him of My Father. Now watch what happens. From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. I don't want to lose family, I don't want to lose friends, I don't want to lose church members. You don't want to lose family, you don't want to lose friends, and you don't want to lose your friends, your church family, church friends. But if it happened to Jesus, and He's our example, you think for a minute it's not going to happen to you and I? I'll tell you one of the most saddest things that a parent has to deal with. Their child growing up, making their own decisions, and walking away from Christ. Now, I haven't figured out how to deal with that. And you're probably not going to have to. You're probably not going to figure out how to deal with that other than pray and pray and pray some more. And I don't have an answer for how come my old buddies don't wanna talk with me anymore and how come those relationships feel like they just hit a ceiling. I'll tell you why. Because Christ is our example. And I don't want that, you don't want that, but if Christ's gonna be our example, that's gonna happen. You young people, do you wanna have some friends when you grow up? Go like this. Yes. Yes. You want to have friends. You want to have friends. Do you want to have good friends? Yeah. Are you going to fall in love with your friends when you hang around with them so much? Yeah, you are. You're going to love them. You're going to love them. But if your friend grows up and your friend decides that, you know, we're going to go down to the bar, we're going to go down to the dance hall, we're going to start listening to this music that's got a bunch of bad words in it, we're going to start watching these videos that have a bunch of blasphemy and dirty words in it and bad pictures. Do you love your friend? You do, don't you? But you're going to have to make a decision. Are you going to offend that friend and have Christ as your example and be willing to lose them Or are you going to go do the bad stuff? Young people, you've got to start thinking about this stuff now. Now. Because it's going to come. It's going to come. Right, Chris? It's going to come. You were a young person. It's coming. You're going to have to figure out who you want to offend, Christ or your friends that want to go do bad things. Alright, we'll start wrapping it up. This is an apostle. You could be a preacher, you could be a teacher, but you can't be an apostle because you and I have not witnessed the life or resurrection of Jesus Christ. So that one is out for us. Paul was. And a teacher of the Gentiles. Primarily he was sent to the Gentiles. He was not at the exclusion of the Jews. That'll be important at a later time when we have to talk about hyper-dispensationalists. But for tonight, we'll say that he was a teacher, not exclusively, but primarily, of the Gentiles. The last verse I'd like to look at is 2 Timothy 1, verse 12. The Bible says, For the witch calls, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. Are you ashamed of Jesus? Young people, if you know Him, are you ashamed of Him? For the witch calls, I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed. Paul's suffering for the cause of Christ and he's not ashamed. As a matter of fact, in v. 8, he says, don't be ashamed of your testimony. In v. 16, we'll get to later, he's got a good friend. His friend was not ashamed of him being imprisoned. Came and see him. Prayed for him. And then here in v. 12, he says, I am not ashamed to suffer for Christ. Then it goes on to say in that verse, it says, 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." What's that day? That's the day that He dies. You and I, we're going to have that day. We're going to have a day when we die. And you know what Paul didn't commit? That verse here, it says, "...keep that which I have committed unto Him." Paul didn't commit his body. Matter of fact, his body's in a mess. But he did commit his soul. And if you're saved, I trust that you are, I'm saved. What we did is save people as we committed our soul to the Lord, not our body. This is why Paul can go through all of that. Well, I'm going to commit my body to you, Lord. Oh, okay, great. I'm going to be shipwrecked. I'm going to be stoned. I'm going to be smacked around. I'm going to be whipped. I'm going to be beaten. I'm going to be in this cold dungeon. I'm going to be stripped half naked. Yeah, I'm going to commit my body to you, Lord. No, he committed his soul, and that's why he could go through what his body had to go through, because he knew the Lord was going to keep him. He wouldn't worry about his vile body. He knew it was going to be changed. He wasn't worried about the corruption in his body. He knew he was going to get something of incorruption. Against that day, the day that Paul dies, and you and I is going to come a day when we leave this world, and the question is, Have you trusted your soul? Young people, have you trusted your soul to Jesus Christ? Have you committed your soul to Him? Forget about your body. It's gonna die someday. So Paul's telling Timothy the same thing. Hey man, you don't have to worry about me. If you've committed your soul to the Lord, hey, Timothy, you can go on, because it's better to be saved. It's better to be saved. He doesn't have to be ashamed of the suffering. He doesn't have to worry about his body. He's saved. His soul is saved. you