Knowing and Believing
(No. 3331)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1912.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 30, 1866.
"I know whom I have believed." 2 Timothy 1:12.
THE text is wholly taken up with three things–with knowing, with
believing and with the Person who is known and believed. And upon both
the knowing and the believing, Paul is very decided. He puts in no,
"if," no word of change. He does not say, "I hope so," or, "I trust
so," but, "I know I have believed and I know whom I have believed." It
is all assurance and not a shadow of doubt! Let us imitate the Apostle,
or ask for Grace to be able to imitate him, that we may shake off the
dubious phraseology which is so common among Christians, nowadays, and
may be able to speak with Apostolic confidence upon a matter upon which
we ought to be confident if anywhere at all, namely–our own salvation!
As the text is thus taken up with knowing and believing, these two
matters will be the subject of our meditation at this time. My first
remark drawn from the text shall be–
I. THE ONLY RELIGIOUS KNOWING AND BELIEVING WHICH ARE OF A SAVING
CHARACTER CONCERN THE PERSON OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. "I know," says
the Apostle–not, "what"–but, " whomI have believed." He does not say,
"I know the Catechism which I have believed," nor, "I know the
Institutes of Calvin," nor, "I know the body and system of theology,"
but, "I know whom I have believed." Both the knowing and the believing
center around the wondrous Person who for our sakes left His starry
Throne and became a Man. Knowing whom is a saving knowledge and
trusting whom is a saving trust–of which all other knowing and
believing fall short!
Observe, then, that all other knowledge may be useful enough in itself,
but if it does not concern Christ, it cannot be called saving
knowledge. Some persons know a great deal about Doctrine. Perhaps they
have taken up with the Calvinis-tic theology, or even with the
hyper-Calvinistic and they really understand the system thoroughly
well–and they certainly hold it with quite enough tenacity, if not too
much. We know some who we believe would very cheerfully go to the stake
in defense of some points of Doctrine so convinced are they of the
orthodoxy of what they have received! Others take up another theory and
go upon the Arminian principle–and they, too, know their set of
doctrines and know them well. But, dear Friends, I may know all the
Doctrines in the Bible, but unless I know Christ, there is not one of
them that can save me! I may know Election, but if I cannot see myself
as chosen in Christ Jesus, election will do me no good. I may know the
Doctrine of the Final Perseverance of the Saints, but if I am not in
Christ, I would only persevere in my sins– and such a final
perseverance will be dreadful, indeed! It is one thing to know the
Doctrine of Justification by Faith, but it is quite another thing to be
justified by faith and to have peace with God! You may stand up for
Imputed Righteousness and fight for it, and yet the righteousness of
Christ may never be imputed to you! It is not knowingthe creed, though
that is well, that can save the soul–the knowledge that is needed is
to know Him whom Paul believed!
And, again, a man may know something more than Doctrine. He may know a
great deal about experience. There is a class of persons who sneer at
Doctrine. They call the doctrinal preacher a mere "letterman." As for
themselves, they talk about deep experience. They have a consciousness
of having a corrupt heart. They have discovered that they have evil
tempers (by the way, other people, too, have discovered it)! They have
discovered that they have defiled natures and everybody can see that
they are not perfectly free from sin. But, strange delusion, because
they know the disease, they fancy they have been healed! Because they
have perception enough to see they are spiritually bankrupt, they,
therefore, imagine that their debts are paid! Because they
feelthemselves to be in the Slough of Despond, they dream they are on
the Rock!
But there is a vast difference between the two things. A man may think
he has an experience of his own emptiness– no, he may truly possess
it–but if it does not drive him to Christ, if he does not come and
rest on the Lord Jesus, all his experiences are of no saving value! The
foundation of the soul's salvation is not experience of any or every
kind, but the finished work, the meritorious blood and righteousness of
our Lord and Savior!
There are some, too, who not only know experience and Doctrine, but who
also know how to talk of them. They have mingled with Christian people
until they can get up their phraseology and, as some Christians have
cant expressions, these people can "cant" in any quantity and to any
extent. They can talk about their "poor souls" and about, "the dear
Lord," and use all those other precious phrases of hypocrisy which lard
some religious publications and which are to be found in the
conversation of some people who ought to know better. They use these
expressions and then, when they get in among the people of God, they
are received with open arms! And they fancy that because they can talk
as Christians talk, it is all well with them! But, oh, remember that if
a parrot could call you, "father," it would not, for all that, have
become a child of yours! A foreigner may learn the language of an
Englishman but never be an Englishman, but still remain a foreigner.
So, too, you may take up the language of a Christian, but may never
have within you the Spirit of God and, therefore, be none of His. You
must know Him. "Know yourself," said the heathen philosopher. That is
well, but that knowledge may only lead a man to Hell. "Know Christ,"
says the Christian philosopher, "know Him and then you shall know
yourself"–and this shall certainly lead you to Heaven, for the
knowledge of Christ Jesus is savingknow-ledge–"whom to know is life
eternal."
In addition to these valuable pieces of information, there are some who
know a great deal ABOUT Christ, but here I must remind you that the
text does not say, "I know about Christ," but, "I know Him." Ah, dear
Hearer, you may have heard the Gospel from your youth up, so that the
whole history of Christ is at your fingertips! But you may not know
Him, for there is a deal of difference between knowing about Him, and
knowing Him. You may know about a medicine, but still die of the
disease which the medicine might have cured. The prisoner may know
about liberty and yet lie and pine in his dungeon until, as John Bunyan
put it, "the moss grows on his eyelids." The traveler may know about
the home which he hopes to reach and yet may be left out at nightfall
in the midst of the forest. Many a man of business knows about wealth,
or even concerning the millions of the Bank of England, and yet is a
bankrupt or on the verge of poverty. Many a sailor knows about the
port, but his ship drifts upon the rocks and all hands go down. It is
not enough to know aboutChrist, it is knowing Christ, Himself,that
alone saves the soul!
And, over and above, and in addition to all this, you may know the
Scriptures from youth up. I suppose I have some–perhaps many–before
me who are well acquainted with almost every Chapter in the. Bible. You
could not be questioned upon any part of it so as to be really
nonplussed. You have read the Book and you continue to read it–and I
approve of your wise choice in so doing–and beg you to always continue
in so excellent a practice! But remember, if you have not the Word of
God in your heartit is of small use to have it merely in your head. Oh,
to know Christ is our supreme and tragic need! Not to merely know texts
and Scripture, for–"the letter kills, it is only the Spirit that
quick-ens"–and unless you know Christ you do not know the vital Spirit
of the Word of God! The only saving knowledge, then, is knowing Christ.
Well, now, so is it with the exercise of faith. You may know a great
deal about faith, but the only saving faith is belief concerning
Christ. "I know whom I have believed." To believe Doctrine will not
save a man. You may hold all the creed and be orthodox–and then be no
better than the devil, for I suppose that the devil is a very sound
theologian. He surely knows the Truth. He believes and trembles! But
you may know it and nottremble–and so you may fall short of one virtue
which even the devil possesses! A firm belief in what is preached to
you is well enough in its way, but to believe a Doctrine as such cannot
save you. Some have a belief in their minister–and I suppose that is
so flattering to us that you will hardly expect us to speak against
it–but of all vices, it is one most surely to be dreaded because it is
so very dangerous! We charge you in the sight of God, always weigh what
we have to say to you–and if it is not according to Scripture, cast it
away as you cast away refuse! Take nothing merely because we say it!
Let nothing that we preach be received upon our ipse dixit, but let it
be tried and tested by the Word of God, for otherwise you may be led by
the blind. And "if the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into
the ditch." Ah, what multitudes of persons there are in England who are
beginning to get their fellow man to perform their religion for them!
They are too lazy to think! They are too idle to use whatever brains
they have and so they get some mere simpleton who thinks that God is
pleased with his
putting on a white gown or a blue dress, or a black gown or green
dress, a scarlet gown or mauve dress, is pleased with burning candles
in the daylight and pleased with making a pungent odor in the
church–they get such a creature as this to do their religion for them
and then they lie down at night to rest, feeling perfectly satisfied
that God is satisfied and they are all right! Oh, I charge you, believe
not this delusion! It is not believing in a priest that will save you!
Believing in the priest may be your ruin, but believing in Christ is
the really vital point–the one thing that truly matters. He that
believes in Christ is saved! But he that believes even the Pope of Rome
shall find that he believes to his own eternal ruin!
Then again, it is not believing in ourselves. Many persons believe
thoroughly in themselves. The doctrine of self-reliance is preached in
many quarters now-a-days. I suppose that what is meant by the term is a
good mercantile possession, a business virtue, but it is a Christian
vice as towards spiritual things and emphatically towards the soul's
salvation! Self-reliance in this matter always ruins those who practice
it. Rely on self? Let night rely on her darkness to find a light! Let
emptiness rely on its insufficiency to find its fullness! Let death
rely on the worms to give it immortality! Let Hell rely upon its fire
to make it into Heaven–such trusts as these would be equally strong
with those of the sinner who relies upon himself for salvation! Your
belief must not be that you can force your way to Heaven, but you must
believe Him, for anything else is an unsaving faith.
You see, then, that the knowledge which saves, and the belief which
saves, both hang upon the Cross. They both look to the wounds of that
dear Man, that blessed God who was there the Propitiation for our sins
and who suffered in our place. My Hearer, are you trusting Christ? Are
you hanging upon Him as the vessel hangs upon the nail? Do you know Him
as a man knows his friend? Do you seek to know more of Him? Is He all
your salvation and all your desire? If not, take home this solemn
warning–whatever else you know, you are still ignorant, and whatever
else you believe, you are still an unbeliever–unless you know and
believe in Him who is the Savior of men!
I pass on now to a second point, which is this–
II. THAT KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT FAITH IS VAIN.
This is to try to balance with but one scale–to run a chariot on one
wheel. You have the double matter here. "I know whom I have believed."
It is good to know, but knowledge must be crowned with faith! It has
been remarked that Paul does not say, "I know of whom I have heard." He
does not say, "I know of whom I have read." He does not say, "I know of
whom I have preached," but, "I know whom I have believed." Here he hits
the nail on the head. Knowledge is useful in the bud. Mere reading,
preaching, too, are well as an exercise–but believingis the fruit
which must grow upon the Tree of Knowledge or else the knowledge will
be of little use to us!
Now, my dear Friends, I know that I am addressing many of your class,
many who know Christ in a certain sense. Know much about Him. You know
of His Nature, you believe Him to be true Deity. You know Him to be
Human like yourselves and for man's sake made Man. You know His life.
You have often read it. You often like to dwell upon the incidents of
it. It is a genuine and great pleasure to sing of Bethlehem and its
manger, of Cana and its marriage. You have turned over the pages of
that Life of lives and felt enraptured with this matchless masterpiece
of biography. You are well acquainted, too, with His death–it has
often drawn tears to your eyes when you have thought of the shame and
the spitting and the crown of thorns. You know something concerning His
expiring cries. Your imagination has often pictured to you the wounded
body of that dread Sufferer. You have thought that if you had been
there, you would have wet His feet with your tears, you did so
sympathize with Him. You know of His burial and of His Resurrection,
too, and you have sweetly joined with us when we have been singing–
"Angels, roll the rock away, Jesus Christ is risen today"
and you have not been lacking when we have been singing of His
Ascension! Your eyes have flushed with fire when you have heard the
words–
"They brought His chariot from on high, To bear Him to His Throne,
Clapped their triumphant wings and cried, 'The glorious work is done.'"
You know that He reigns in Heaven! You know that He has prepared
mansions for His people. You know that He intercedes for sinners. You
expect that He will come. You believe in His Second Advent and when the
Te Deum has been sung
in your hearing–"We believe that You shall come to be our Judge," you
have said, "Yes! I do–I do–I believe it." Now, if you know all this,
you know that which it is very important to be known, but if you stop
short here, where are you? Why, I have no doubt there have been
hundreds who knew this, but who have given their bodies and souls to
the devil and have lived in open sin, day by day! If you could go to
the condemned cell tonight, I would not wonder if the wretch confined
there knows all this. If you were to go into the flaunting gin palaces
which are scattered to our shame and curse all over London–where men
and women are drinking liquid fire at this very moment–you would find
that half of them know all this, but they do not drink any the less for
it! If you were to go into the lairs of vice, you would find that the
most abandoned know all this, but it does them no good! And I will add
also this–that the lost spirits in Hell went there knowing all this!
And the devil, himself, knows it all, but he still remains a devil! Ah,
my Hearer, I charge you before God, do not sit down and say, "I know, I
know, I know." Do you believe? Do you BELIEVE?
The common answer given very frequently to the city missionary is just
this–men say to them, "There is no need for you to come here and tell
me anything. I know all about it." Ah, but do you believe in Jesus What
is the good of your knowing unless you believe? I do not think that the
most of you who go to places of worship need so much instruction in
Divine Truth as you need an earnest appeal to your hearts not to stop
short at instruction! You do know, and that, indeed, shall be, indeed,
part of your damnation–that you had the light but you would not see!
That Jesus came into your street and came near to you, but you would
not have Him! The medicine was there, but you died because you would
not take it! The food was on the table, but you would sooner perish
with hunger than receive it as the free gift of Heaven! Ah, my Hearer,
your knowing will not benefit you, but will be a plague to you! The
poor savage in his kraal in Central Africa who never heard the name of
Jesus shall die with at least this mitigating circumstance–that he
never rejected the Savior's love! The million a month who die in China,
for a million do die every month in China–the million who die every
month in China die with this one solace, at any rate, that they never
sinned against the light of Christianity, nor rejected the Truth as it
is in Jesus! This is more than you can say! This will never help to
make a dainty couch for you, when you make your bed in Hell! The
responsibility of having known shall add remorse to the whips of
accusing conscience and make Hell still more terrible! Oh, may God
grant that we may not stop short with knowledge, alone, but may know
Christ as Him whom we have believed! But still we have in the next
place–
III. FAITH WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE IS BUT A BIRD WITH ONE WING. The old faith
of the fuller is coming back in some places today. You remember what
the fuller said, "Yes, he believed" He believed–what did he believe?
He believed, "What the Church believed." And what did the Church
believe? "Well, the Church believed–well, what he believed." And, pray
tell, what did he and the Church, together, believe? "Why, they both
believed the same thing." Ah, how many there are of that sort today!
They say, "We think he ought to be sincere, you know, and if he is
sincere, it does not matter much whether it is absolutely true. He need
not trouble greatly to enquire whether what he believes is Scriptural
or not, or whether it is according to God's Revelation–that will take
up too much of his time and thought–and look too much like being
obedient to God's will. Just be sincere, you know, and then, hit or
miss, whatever your mother or father happened to be in religious
character, go at it with all your might and it will be all right."
Now, unfortunately, that does not happen to be the Truth of God–and we
do not find people in this world getting on in proportion to their
sincerity. I suppose our friends who bought Overend and Gurney's shares
were sincere enough in their belief that they were buying a good thing,
but I should fancy that their opinions have undergone a change of late!
No doubt there have been persons who have taken prussic acid, sincerely
believing that it would benefit them, but I suppose it has killed them,
notwithstanding their sincerity. If a man should travel due south in
order to get to the Orkney Islands, however sincere he might be, he
would probably discover himself in the Bay of Biscay before long. The
fact is, it is not sincerity, alone–it is the studious endeavor to
find out what the right is and what the Truth is–that is the only safe
way for us! We do not, therefore, ask you to believe without knowing
what you are to believe. It is impossible. Do not think a man can hold
in his hands four or five doctrines and say to you, "Do you believe
them?" "Well, but what are they?" "Never mind! You are a true Believer
and you must believe then without knowing them." A man who has no power
of belief at all says, "Oh, yes, I believe. I will kiss your feet if
necessary, or do anything you like to tell me." But the thoughtful man,
the man who is likely to be saved, says at once, "I find it impossible
to believe until I first know what I am to believe."
I have sometimes thought when I have heard addresses from some revival
Brothers who had kept on saying time after time, "Believe, believe,
believe," that I would like to have known for myself what it was we
were to believe in order to our salvation. There is, I fear, a great
deal of vagueness and crudeness about this matter. I have heard it
often asserted that if you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, you
will be saved. My dear Hearer, do not be deluded by such an idea! You
may believe that Jesus Christ died for you and may believe what is not
true! You may believe that which will bring you no sort of good
whatever. That is not saving faith! The man who has saving faith
attains to the conviction that Christ died for him afterwards, but it
is not of the essence of saving faith. Do not get that into your head
or it will ruin you! Do not say, "I believe that Jesus Christ died for
me," and because of that feel that you are saved! I pray you to
remember that the genuine faith that saves the soul has for its main
element–trust–absolute rest of the whole soul–on the Lord Jesus
Christ to save me, whether He died in particular or in special to save
me or not and, relying as I am, wholly and alone on Him, I am saved!
Afterwards I come to perceive that I have a special interest in the
Savior's blood, but if I think I have perceived that before I have
believed in Christ, then I have inverted the Scriptural order of things
and I have taken as a fruit of my faith that which is only to be
obtained by rights–by the man who absolutely trusts in Christ, and
Christ alone, to save!
The matter, then, which saves is this–a man trustsChrist, but he
trusts Christ because he knowsHim. See! He knows Christ and, therefore,
he trusts Him. How does he come to know Him? Well, he has heard of Him,
he has read of Him, he seeks Him in prayer and when he has learned His
Character, he trusts Him. Occasionally young converts will say to us,
"Sir, I cannot trust Christ." I never try to argue with them about it,
but say, "Then you do not know Him, because to truly know Christ is
sure to bring trust." I believe there are some men in the world whom
you have only to know to trust because they are so transparently
honest, so clearly truthful that you must trust them! The Savior is
such a Person as that. Let me tell you, Sinner, God was made flesh and
dwelt among us–do you believe that? "Yes." He lived a holy life. He
died a painful death. The merit of His life and death is set to the
account of everyone who trusts in Him and He declares that if you trust
in Him, He will save you. Now surely you can trust Him! You say, "No, I
cannot." Why not? Is He not able? He is Divine–therefore you cannot
raise the question. Is He not willing? He died–that argues willingness
surely to do a lesser thing, since He has done the greater! Surely you
cannot doubt that! The life of the Lord Jesus Christ is an answer to
every form of doubt. Do you know, I feel with regard to Christ, myself,
that instead of its being any difficulty to trust Him, I find it very
difficult not to trust Him if I cannot find any reason why I should
distrust Him. I was turning over the other day some odds and ends of my
own brain to see if I could find any reason why Christ should not
receive my soul. Well, I could not find half a one, but I could think
of 20,000 reasons why I should believe in Him to save me, even if I had
a million souls! I feel as if His way of saving is so magnificent and
the working of it out so Divinely generous, that His offerings were so
great, His Person is so glorious, that I could not only cast my one
soul on Him, but 50,000 souls if I had them! Why, I cannot find any
reasonable ground for doubting Him! Soul, I would to God that you would
think of Him in the same light!–
"He is able, He is willing– Doubt no more!"
You know something of Him. Oh, may God give the Grace to add to your
knowledge, trust, and then shall you have true saving faith!
Let it be remarked here that in proportion as our genuine knowledge of
Christ increases, so we shall find that our trust in Him will increase,
too. The more we know Christ, the more we shall trust Him because every
new piece of knowledge will give new arguments for immovable confidence
in Him! Oh, if you have not seen Christ, I can understand your doubting
Him, but if you have leaned your head upon His bosom, if He has ever
kissed you with the kisses of His lips, if He has ever taken you into
His banqueting house and waved His banner of love over you, I know you
will feel, "Doubt You, Jesus, doubt You? Why, how can I? I know the
power of Your arm. I know the love of Your heart. I know the efficacy
of Your blood. I know the Glory of Your Person. I know the faithfulness
of Your Word. I know the Immutability of Your oath and I can trust You
and, either sink or swim, my soul casts herself upon You, You blessed
Savior!"
But now there may be some present who are saying, "I cannot say I know
whom I have believed."
IV. "HOW CAN I KNOW THAT I MAY BELIEVE IN HIM?" The answer is, search
the Word of God with a desire to find Him. Seek out the most
Christ-exalting ministry in your neighborhood, in whatever denomination
you can find
it, and listen to it with all your ears and with all your heart. Get to
your chamber and there seek the Lord to illuminate you in the matter of
the Lord Jesus Christ! Ask Him to reveal His Son in you. I tell you
this–faith comes by hearing and by hearing the Word of God–and when
to these is added earnest seeking, you shall not be long without
finding Him! They who seek Christ are already being sought of Him. You
who desire Him shall have Him! You who want Him shall not be long
without Him. It is to have Christ to some degree, to hunger and to
thirst after Him–and when you feel that you cannot be content without
Him, He will not let you be, but will soon come to you! I believe there
are some who will get peace with Christ tonight! Do you understand it,
dear Friend? You have nothing to do. You have nothing to be. You have
not even anything to learn, except that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners and that He is able to save unto the uttermost
them that come unto God by Him! You know that. Now, trust Him, and if
you do, it is all done and you are saved! If you have trusted in Him
whom God has revealed as your Savior, it is not a matter of twenty
minutes nor much less a matter of months, but you are saved at once!–
"The moment a sinner believes,
And trusts in his crucified God,
His pardon at once he receives,
Salvation in full through Christ's blood." When a man once gets into
the lifeboat, if it were certain that the lifeboat would never sink, he
is saved as soon as he gets in. Now, the act of faith does, as it were,
put us into the lifeboat of Christ Jesus and we are saved immediately!
You may have many a tossing, but you will get safely to land at last.
If you want faith you must get it, as I have told you, by knowing Him,
studying the Word of God, listening to it and seeking His face. But
make use of what you know, or else what you know will be like the stale
manna and will be of no use to you. Believe it as you know it. Use it
up as you get it. And if you already know Christ to be a sinner's
Savior, and know that you are a sinner, then come tonight and put your
trust in Him! And be of good cheer because He will never, never, never
cast you away! And now, lastly, I should like to ask a question, and it
is this–
V. HOW MANY ARE THERE WHO DO KNOW CHRIST?
We all know something of which we are a little proud, but, "I know, I
know, I know," is a very poor thing to say when you do not know Christ!
"I know," says my young friend over there who has been to Oxford or
Cambridge University, "I know So-and-So." "I know," says another,
"such-and-such a special line of distinguished thinking." But do you
know Christ, my dear Friend? "Ah, thank God," says one upstairs, and
another good soul below, "we can hardly read, Sir, but we do know Him."
I would change places with you, Friends, much sooner than I would with
the most learned of men who do not know Christ, because when they come
to the gates of death, you know, he who keeps the gate will not say,
"Do you know the classics? Have you read Horace? Have you studied
Homer? Do you know mathematics? Do you understand logarithms or conic
sections?" No, but he will say, "Do you know Christ?" And if you
scarcely even know your own native tongue, yet if you know Christ, the
gates of Heaven shall fly open to let you in!
Now, do you know Christ? Do let the question go round to each one, "Do
I know Christ?" Well, then, do you believe Christ? Do you trust Christ?
"Yes, thank God!" says one, "with all my imperfections I can sing the
hymn–
"On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand."
Oh, then, Brothers and Sisters, let us be of good cheer, for, trusting
Him, He will never fail us! Believing Him, He will never leave us! We
shall see His face in Glory. Oh, that the day were come! But when it
does, to His name shall be all the praise! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 TIMOTHY 4:1-11.
Verses 1, 2. I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His
Kingdom, preach the Word of God. We are not to use such strong language
as this unless there is some sufficient reason for it. We must not be
too hot upon cold matters, but even this is better than to be cold upon
matters that require heat. When John Calvin wished to leave Geneva to
complete his studies elsewhere, that man of God, Farrell, knowing how
necessary it was for the Church that Calvin should remain at Geneva,
charged him before God that
he dared not go–and hoped that a curse might light upon all his
studies, if for the sake of them he should forsake what he held to be
his duty. So sometimes, like the Apostle, we may before the Judge of
the quick and dead, charge men not to forsake their work and calling.
2. Be instant in season and out of season. The Greek word means, "Stand
up to it," as when a man is determined to finish his work, he stands
right up to it. Stand over your work, putting your whole strength into
it–standing up over it. "In season and out of season," because the
Gospel is a fruit which is in season all the year round! Sometimes
these "out of season" sermons, preached at night or at some unusual
time, have been of more service than the regular ordinances of God's
House. Mr. Grimshaw used to ride on horseback from village to village
throughout the more desolate parts of Yorkshire and wherever he met
with ten or a dozen people, he would preach on horseback to them,
preaching sometimes as many as 24 sermons in a week! That was being
instant "out of season" as well as "in season." So should God's
Timothys be and, indeed, all of us!
2. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine. That
is, do not exhort with mere declamation, but put some argument into
your exhortation! Some men think it quite enough to appear to be in
earnest, though they have nothing to say. Let such exhorters remember
that they are to exhort with Doctrine–with solid teaching!
2. For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears. When men have not good preachers, they are sure to have a
great many of them! Those nations which have the worst priests always
have them in swarms. So let us be thankful if God sends us a glowing
and zealous minister, for even those who count it an affliction to have
a minister, would be more afflicted if they had not a good one! But how
evil it is when men get itching ears, when they need someone to be
perpetually tickling them, giving them some pretty things, some fine
pretentious intellectualism! In all congregations there is good to be
done, except in a congregation having itching ears. From this may God
deliver us!
4. And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth, and shall be
turned unto fables. When a man will not believe the Truth of God, he is
sure, before long, to be a greedy believer of lies! No persons are so
credulous as skeptics. There is no absurdity so gross but what an
unbeliever will very soon be brought to receive it, though he
rejectsthe Truth of God!
5, 6. But watch you in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an
evangelist, make full proof of your ministry For I am now ready to be
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. How complacently he
talks about it! It is only a departure, though Caesar's sword might
smite his head from his body! And truly death to the Believer is no
frightful thing. "Go up," said God to Moses, and the Prophet went up,
and God took away his soul to Him–and Moses was blessed! And so, "Come
up," says God to the Christian, and the Christian goes up, first to his
chamber and then from his chamber to Paradise!
7, 8. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give Me at
that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His
appearing. This seems, then, to be a distinguishing mark of a true
child of God–he loves the appearing of Christ! Now there are some
professors who never think of the Second Advent at all. It never gives
them the slightest joy to believe that–
"Jesus the King will come, To take His people up To their eternal
home."
Truly they are mistaken and are surely wrong, for was not this the very
comfort that Christ gave to His disciples? "If I go away, I will come
again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be
also." I trust, dear Friends, we are among those "who love His
appearing," and if we are, it is a sure prophecy that we shall have a
crown of righteousness!
9, 10. Do your diligence to come shortly unto me: for Demas has
forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto
Thessalonica.Demas was once almost a martyr! He was upon the very edge
of suffering, but now you see he goes back to the world–he is not
content to lie in the dungeon and rot with Paul, but will rather seek
his own ease. Alas, Demas, how have you dishonored yourself forever,
for every man who reads this passage, as he passes by flings another
stone at the heap which is the memorial of one cowardly spirit who fled
from Paul in danger!
10. Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. It is likely that Paul
had sent Crescens and Titus away upon a mission, but now, from certain
intimations, the Apostle is sure that his time of death is coming on
and so, indeed, it was, for his head was struck off by Nero's orders a
few weeks after the writing of this Epistle–and now he somewhat
laments that he had sent them away. And would not you and I want the
consolation of kind faces round about us, and the sweet music of loving
voices in our ears if we were about to be offered up?
11. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you for he is
profitable to me for the ministry. That is one of the prettiest verses
in the Bible! You remember that the Apostle Paul quarreled with
Barnabas about this very Mark, because John Mark would not go into
Bythinia to preach the Word, but left Paul and Barnabas. Therefore Paul
would not have Mark with him anymore because he had turned in the day
of trouble. But now Paul is about to die and he wishes to be perfectly
at peace with everyone. He has quite forgiven poor John Mark for his
former weakness. He sees Divine Grace in him and so he is afraid lest
John Mark should be under some apprehensions of the Apostle's anger.
And so he puts in this very kind passage, without seeming to have any
reference at all to the past, but he gives him this great praise–"for
he is profitable to me for the ministry."