Unashamed Confidence (2 Timothy 1:8-12) | Special Baptism Sunday (Matthew 28:18)

Well, good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church. We're glad that you're here today on our Baptism Sunday. Thank you for joining us. Would you please stand as we begin our service this morning with a call to worship from Psalm 145.

And it says in verses one to eight, I will exalt you, my God, O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is Yahweh and highly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall laud your works to another and shall declare your mighty deeds. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on the words of your wondrous deeds, I will muse. Men shall speak of the strength of your fearsome acts and I will recount your greatness.

They shall pour forth the memory of your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of your righteousness. Yahweh is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in loving kindness. Would you sing with us this morning together, Psalm 145, how great.

I'll bless your name, O God, each day that I awake From dawn to setting sun, through greatness I'll proclaim Your glory far exceeds all human thought So with each breath I'll bless your name, O God, by children yet to come To nations sing of wonders, your strong hands are all Of wicked men you finally destroyed Till Christ is the glory to be praised

Another Psalm, Psalm 144, O bless me the Lord God. He trains me, pats for the Lord, trust deliverer My refuge and shield, he brings down my fuss Son of man, mindful of me, so full of song to sing

Just a couple of announcements. Today is our baptism service, so it's good to see a full house. I ran into a couple of people that I thought, what are you doing here? Can't be the potluck, and then it occurred to me, oh, these people attend another church, but they're here for a baptism, so that's good.

After the service today, we have a potluck, and if you're here and you didn't know anything about that, and you're new to the area, new to the church, you're welcome to join us for that. That's after the service.

So as soon as we're done with our baptism service, then it would be good if everybody were to make their way outside, out into the yard. Grab your food, make sure it is in the kitchen. They're gonna set up some tables in here, and then we'll make an announcement outside when we're ready to pray and start going through the line.

And when we're outside for the potluck, just a couple of reminders. Number one, kids, please go through with your parents, through the line with your parents, and then second, we would prefer for the kids not to play inside of the building, running around in different rooms here.

So we're gonna lock up everything that we can lock up, but please keep your kids outside with you for the play time. And there is a men's Bible study sign-up sheet on the table out in the foyer. If you would like to participate in that, men, we need to know who you are, what you're planning to show up, so make sure you put your name on that list.

Turn your Bibles, please, to 2 Timothy 1 for our scripture reading. 2 Timothy 1, we're gonna read the first chapter and a couple of verses into chapter two. 2 Timothy 1, beginning at verse one, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus.

To Timothy, my beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life in immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

For this reason, I also suffer these things, but I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you. You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

The Lord grant mercy to the house of Venicipherus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. The Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.

You know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. These things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. You stand with me as we pray. Let's bow our heads. Our Father, we have read here of a great salvation that has been bestowed upon those who are in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have every reason to have a bold confidence before you, for you have saved us and called us with a holy calling. You have granted us a grace in your Son from all of eternity. You have blessed us because you have showed favor to your Son.

And because we are in Him, your favor rests upon those who have their faith in Him. And we are grateful for all of that, for imputed righteousness, for imputed faith, for the grace of salvation and the opportunity to proclaim that salvation in our union with Christ.

And so we ask your blessing upon our service, our worship, our fellowship, and our testimony here to the name of Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.

Let's sing together, Thy mercy, my God. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song, the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue. Thy free grace alone from the first to the last hath won my affections and found my soul at last.

Thy sweet mercy, I could not live here. Sin would reduce me to utter despair, but through Thy free goodness my spirit's revived and He that first made me. Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart, which wonders to feel its own hardness depart.

Dissolved by Thy goodness I fall to the ground and weep for the grace of the mercy I found. Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own and the covenant love of Thy crucified Son. All praise to the Spirit whose working divine seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine.

All praise to the Spirit whose working divine seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine. In Philippians chapter three, verses seven through 11, it says, but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as lost for the sake of Christ.

More than that, I count all things to be lost because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as lost so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.

Not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

We're gonna sing our last song this morning before the message, Cling to Christ. Father, I can come to you and boast of deeds I, by pride, I strive to earn the favor Christ has won All my works, thus I come, go astray

And bad old me sits down

Sorry for the delay. Nothing's today as it should be. These guys are gonna continue to mess around here while we get started. All right, baptism is a proclamation of our identification with Jesus Christ.

We do this in obedience to Him to show that He is our Lord, that we belong to Him, that He belongs to us. This act of baptism displays something that He did on our behalf. And it is a public confession that we do in the presence of many witnesses because it takes courage to stand up in front of other people and even on a live stream and proclaim that you are a sinner, that you deserve nothing but God's wrath, that you have done nothing to earn His favor, that you can do nothing to earn His favor, and all you deserve is judgment.

And then to also proclaim that you are, because those things are true, placing your entire faith and confidence in somebody else who merited your salvation and did everything necessary to earn not only your forgiveness but your eternal righteousness and your eternal glory.

So as we prepare for baptisms, which we're gonna have coming up here shortly, I wanna give our attention to a passage that describes the kind of confident boldness that should mark every believer in Jesus Christ.

This passage not only describes that confidence but also explains to us the grounding and the reason why we should have that kind of bold, unashamed confidence in Christ. And that passage is 2 Timothy 1.

We read it a few moments ago and you'll need your Bibles open to that passage this morning again. So please turn there. 2 Timothy 1. We're gonna read together verses six through 12. We're gonna be focusing mostly on verses eight through 12 and really kind of zeroing in at the end on verse 12 itself.

And then this is gonna be our passage this morning. 2 Timothy 1, beginning at verse six. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and discipline. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity but now has been revealed by the appearing of our savior Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life in immortality to light through the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

For this reason, I also suffer these things but I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. Now, that is our passage for this morning.

We're gonna be focusing, as I said, mostly on verse 12. We'll be catching verses eight and following as well. But before we do, a bit of context because we haven't been in 1 Timothy and I haven't had an opportunity to lay a foundation of this book.

So just sort of bring us up to speed on what this passage is that we're dealing with and the context in which the book was written. This is the last letter of the apostle Paul to his young protege Timothy.

In fact, it is the last letter of the apostle Paul, period. As he writes this, he was in prison for the gospel and this is his second imprisonment in the cause of Christ, the first imprisonment we read of in the book of Acts at the end of the book of Acts.

And after that, he was released for a period of time and then he was arrested and now he is imprisoned again, no longer under house arrest where his people could come and visit him frequently and freely and bring him gifts and things would be cared for.

It's not that kind of an imprisonment. That was at the end of the book of Acts. That was the first imprisonment. This one is a hole in the ground and he is given nothing. And if people don't bring him even food and water, then he would end up going entirely without.

Christianity by this point in history was becoming an illegal religion. Christians who would not worship the state or say Caesar is Lord had become public enemy number one and were becoming increasingly unwelcome in the culture because their morals did not fit with the increasingly darkening moral culture of the day.

So their morals were not welcome, their ethics were not welcome and Christians were being blamed for most of society's ills. In fact, by the time Timothy got this letter, we're only a couple years away from the emperor Nero setting fire to Rome and then fiddling on his rooftop as he watched Rome burn only so that he could blame it on Christians and launch what would end up being a 250 year government sponsored persecution of the church.

That's the context in which this book is written and Timothy had been a longtime traveling companion of the apostle Paul, a trusted partner with him in ministry for years since Timothy was just an older teenager in fact.

Timothy was given the charge to deal with the false teachers who were in the church at Ephesus. Three weeks ago, we looked at Acts chapter 20 where Paul called the elders of the church of Ephesus out to him at the shore at Miletus and he charged them saying, there are among, beware and guard yourselves in the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

And no, Paul says that from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things, twisted doctrinal things. And now that had come to pass and after the release from his first imprisonment, Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus and wrote first Timothy to him.

And he says in chapter one, verse three, upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrine. So that warning of Paul to the Ephesian elders that some among them would begin to teach perverse things, that had come to pass and now Timothy was there to deal with the false teachers in Ephesus.

Fast forward a couple of years, Paul is now in prison and he is writing to his young pastoral protege Timothy with these instructions telling him, Timothy, while the culture is hostile against us, do not shy away from this gospel.

Do not shy away from this Lord, this Messiah and do not be shaken amidst all of the hostility of the world. Do not be shaken away from your confidence in Christ and his gospel. And do not be ashamed of me, the Lord's prisoner.

That's the context in which this is written. And I want you to notice in our text, verses eight through 12, three reasons that Paul gives why we should not be ashamed. First, in verses eight to 11, we have a saving gospel.

Second, in verse 12, we have a securing God. And then third, also in verse 12, we have a sure glory. We have a saving gospel, a securing God, and a sure glory. We'll take each one of those three. Beginning at verse eight, in fact, I want to back up and just read verse seven because it's part of this context.

Verse seven, Paul says to Timothy, God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and of discipline. The word that's translated timidity there means cowardice or fear. It was used sometimes in an idiomatic way to describe somebody who had a fallen heart.

Their heart had just fallen. They had lost all moral or conscience, courage. So they just had nothing inside of them that was strong. So they were very weak. And he is saying, God has not given us that spirit of a fallen heart, but one of boldness and strength, one of power and love and discipline.

So he writes in verse eight, therefore, because God has not given us that spirit of a fallen heart, but instead given us a spirit of courage, therefore, Timothy, verse eight, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.

Now, Paul was Christ's prisoner. He identifies himself as his prisoner in verse eight. This is the first mention of Paul's sufferings in the epistle, but it actually becomes a theme all the way through this epistle as Paul mentions it from time to time that he was enduring affliction and enduring imprisonment.

In fact, if you just look at verse 16 of the same chapter, he says, the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. Notice in verse eight, he says to Timothy, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner.

Then in verse 16, he references a fellow servant who was not ashamed of the Lord or of his prisoner, Paul. In fact, he was not ashamed of Paul's chains. In chapter two, verse nine, he says, I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal, but the word of God is not imprisoned.

Chapter three, verse 11, look what he says. He describes his persecutions and sufferings such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and Lystra. What persecutions I endured and out of them all the Lord rescued me.

Second Timothy 3, 12, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Then you get into chapter four and not to read all of these verses, but just to give you the highlights. In chapter four, verse 16, we find out that Paul had been on trial at least one.

He had made at least one defense before Caesar. Chapter four, verse 11, he had been abandoned by everyone except for one companion, his friend Luke. Chapter four, verse 13, he was facing a winter in this prison.

And so he asked Timothy to bring his parchments and his cloak so he could be worn before winter and asked him, please come before winter. He had been harmed by Alexander the coppersmith, verses 14 and 15.

He had been abandoned, verse 10, and he was expecting execution soon, verse six. So he says to Timothy, do not be ashamed into the testimony of our Lord, this is chapter one, verse eight, or of me, his prisoner.

And then look what he says to him, join with me in suffering for the gospel. That is an odd invitation, isn't it? I asked you to join me for a potluck of smoked tri-tip and delicious food this afternoon.

You think that sounds like an invitation that I can enjoy? Take that up, take you up on that. But if I say, join with me in suffering, what type of a suffering? The type of suffering we've just seen Paul describe in this epistle.

And he is saying to Timothy, you must be willing if called upon to join with me in suffering for the gospel. Do not run away from that affliction. Do not run away from that persecution. Do not be ashamed of it.

Do not shy away from it. Do not be shaken by the hostility of the world, but instead join with me, come with me and join me in this suffering. Because Paul is saying to Timothy to be ashamed of Paul and his imprisonment was to be ashamed of Christ since Paul was in prison for one reason and one reason only.

And that was his testimony regarding Christ. Paul was not in prison because he was an insurrectionist. Paul was not in prison because he had spoken ill about Caesar. Paul was not in prison because he had violated any law of the Roman empire.

Paul was in prison because he was preaching the gospel of Christ. And he had become public enemy number one. And so he says to Timothy, join with me in suffering for this gospel. Don't be ashamed of that.

Haven't done anything deserving of this persecution, this affliction and this imprisonment. And therefore gladly, joyfully, boldly, unashamedly, align yourself with me and with this gospel and join with me in suffering if necessary.

And the reason we are called to suffer is because of what Christ has done. Look, he describes that in verses nine and following. We are to suffer for the gospel according to the power of God, verse nine, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which has appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

That's the details of a saving gospel. We serve a God who has wrought salvation from sin and from death. He has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel by redeeming sinners who deserve nothing but judgment, nothing but God's wrath, and he forgives them and justifies them, not according to their works, but according to his own grace, which he grants to his people from all eternity.

In other words, this grace that is granted to those who partake of salvation is a grace that is given to them before time begins. It is from all eternity. It's not a grace that is given for all eternity.

Paul's saying it is a grace that was given from all eternity. Go back as far as you can go back, and there is a God there who has purpose to redeem and to justify sinners, and he grants grace to those people, a select number of people, a grace to be redeemed, forgiven of their sins, declared righteous, and secured for everlasting glory.

That is a grace that was given to you before time began. But now, in time, that grace has been manifested when Christ steps into human history and lives a perfect life in the place of his people, representing them as he bears the weight and the burden of the law, living it fully, and obeying God in all things.

He actively obeys God in the law so that he is righteous, so that the righteous one then can be hung on a cross and suffer a hideous, cursed death on that cross in the place of his people, so that now those who have placed their faith in Christ and turned from their sins can be declared righteous, not because of anything that they've done, but because of what Christ has done, and their sins can be forgiven, not because they don't deserve to be punished, but because they have been punished on the head of another, their substitute, who bears their wrath and pays their penalty and pays their debt in their place, so that now the guilty can go free, not because God winks at sin, not because he ignores sin, but because he is able by the grace of Christ, a grace granted to us in him from all of eternity, he is able to show both love and justice, because it is at the cross that love and justice meet, where God is able to show love towards sinners by forgiving their sin, because he punishes another in their place, one who came voluntarily and left the glories of heaven to step into time and space to live a perfect life and then die that death in the stead of his people.

It was his rescue mission, and he did that. That is the glorious gospel that we embrace. That is the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, that we deserve to be treated as criminals for our law-breaking, but instead another who never broke the law stepped in and was treated as a criminal in our place.

And then that one who has never broke the law, but stepped in in our place, that one who lived in the fulfillment of the law, we get treated, we lawbreakers get treated as if we have never broke the law and lived the perfect life that he lived.

That is the great exchange over which all of scripture is written. That is the great exchange of righteousness and sin, which the gospel promises to those who repent and believe upon Christ. That is the saving gospel.

And that's what, what is that is to be ashamed? Have I said anything that is to be ashamed yet? Nothing. Second, we have a securing God. Look at verse 12. Verse 12, for this reason, I suffer these things, but I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

The word that is translated believe there, I know whom I have believed in verse 12. It means trusted. It's sometimes translated in scripture as faith. In fact, in this place, it would probably be valid to translate it.

I know the one in whom I place my faith, or I know the one whom I have trusted, whom I have confidence in. And notice that Paul is describing here a confidence that is placed in a person. Three times he says, I know whom I have believed.

I'm persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him against that day. And who does that pronoun refer to? He, and him, and whom? It may refer to the father, and it may refer to the son, to Christ.

And in this context, it could refer to either one of them or to both. And I'm not sure that we need to pick between them because both the father, his grace that he granted to us, and the work of the son are both mentioned in the immediate context.

And really, truth be told, to trust the son is in fact to trust the word of the father because the father says, place your faith in the son. I will forgive your sins and give you that righteousness and bring you to be with me and adopt you into my family.

So to place your confidence and faith in Jesus Christ and to commit everything to him is in fact to take God the father at his word. And to place your faith in God the father is to place your faith in God the son.

For the father says that the son is the proper object of our faith. So when we place our faith in him, we are placing our faith in the word of the father, and we are in fact doing something in obedience to the father when we place our faith in the son.

So I don't think we have to choose between who it is that we have committed these things to. I think the apostle Paul is simply saying, whether you're talking about the father or the son, I know whom I have believed.

Notice he says, I know whom I have believed and not what I have believed. What I have believed is important enough. What I have believed is important because you must believe everything that I described to you in the first part of that regarding the gospel, the saving gospel, there's intellectual, doctrinal and theological content there that we must embrace and believe and place our faith in these promises.

But our confidence ultimately is not in what we believe because we can believe in an intellectual sense all of the right things without ever entrusting ourselves to the salvation that is offered in Jesus Christ.

So he says, I know whom I have believed. And I'm convinced that he is able to keep what I've committed to him against that day. Our confidence objectively is in the work of a person. It is in Christ Jesus.

That is where our confidence rests. Not in a doctrinal statement, as good and necessary as that is, but in a person. I'm actually looking to, as a believer, we are looking to a person who stepped into time and space and made claims about himself and his followers and the salvation that he is offering, made those claims, and then did a certain thing, died on a cross, and then rose again on the third day, victorious over death, which is why Paul can say that he brought life and immortality to life through the gospel.

This is what the work of Christ has done. He is a sovereign God who has abolished death. He is a sovereign God who is sovereign over time. He grants grace to us in Christ from all eternity. He is sovereign over sinners, choosing to redeem them, to save them, to justify them, and he is sovereign over salvation, able to abolish death and bring life to light through the gospel.

He is able to do that, and so Paul is convinced that he is also able to keep whatever it is that we have committed to him. Now, if he is able to abolish death, to suffer death, and to rise again, if he has shown himself faithful to do all of that, then how difficult is it to trust him with this little thing of what I commit to him, my individual soul and destiny?

It might seem like a lot to me, but it's really not a lot in the grand scheme of things, is it? I mean, if he has shown himself faithful to do all of this, then I can trust him to guard and to keep, that's what the word means there, to guard, to watch closely, to keep watch over, the deposit, that's what the word, what I have entrusted to him, to guard, what I have entrusted, the word is a word that we would translate deposit, I've deposited something with him.

What is it that we have deposited with the Lord Jesus Christ? When we place our faith in Christ, we are depositing to him, we are committing to his care, to his charge, and to his keeping, everything that could and is precious to us.

We are entrusting him with our salvation, our life, our immortality, our forgiveness, our righteousness, our eternal destiny, our soul and spirit, our hope of everlasting life, and any reward that we could ever hope to get from him.

That is what we are entrusting him with. That is what we are committing to his charge. Is Christ worthy of that hope and confidence? Well, in time, he was manifested to abolish death and bring life and immortality to life through the gospel, and he has done that, died, buried, and rose again.

And therefore, it is certainly justifiable that we would entrust him with anything that concerns us, all that concerns us, and Romans 10 verse 11 says that whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.

We believe, as Jude says, that he is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy. We will not be ashamed on that day because he is able to keep everything we have committed to him until that final day.

We have a saving gospel and a securing God, and third, we have a sure glory, and this is at the end of verse 12. Paul references what we have entrusted to him being kept until that day. This signals a forward-looking anticipation in the epistle, and this is a theme that kind of goes all the way through this epistle.

For a man sitting in a prison expecting his execution at any day, the apostle Paul is sure looking a lot to the future in those moments. What day is he looking forward to? He is confident that he has entrusted his soul and his safekeeping to a savior who will ultimately keep and preserve and guard it until the final day, the final day of the resurrection, the final day of reward, the final day of his eternal kingdom and eternal glory.

Though he was expecting to step into the grave at any moment in physical death in this world, Paul knew that he could trust that on that final day, he would be raised and not forgotten, and that his savior, who is able to do all that he has done, would keep him to glory and preserve him and deliver on his word on that final day everything that he has promised, and ultimately, this is what the Christian looks forward to.

Paul is at the end of his life, and he was aware that he was about to depart and be with Christ, and so this book is full of forward-looking statements. Look at 2 Timothy 1, verse 10. He talks about the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

He's there talking about living forever, never being able to die, immortality. Look at chapter two, verse 10. For this reason, I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it, eternal glory.

He's looking forward to an eternal glory. He's thinking about the appearing of Christ. 2 Timothy 4, verse one. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead by his appearing and his kingdom.

Preach the word. 2 Timothy 4, verse eight. He talks about a future reward. In the future, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

That day is the day of Christ's appearing. And then in 2 Timothy 4, verse 18, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever, amen.

What a confident statement, what a testimony, that this man, sitting in a prison, aware of his soon execution, has been abandoned and forsaken by all of his traveling companions, some of his friends, Demas forsook him.

Others had left to go off in ministry at Paul's request, but he has been left alone. Only Luke was with him. In the terms of most of the world, he had been forgotten. And this was a man who, it would be safe to say that the apostle Paul was one of the most, if not, the most recognized Christian figure in all of the world at that time.

The most recognized. And now this man who has served faithfully and sacrificially for decades is sitting in a Roman prison, about to be executed, his head about to be severed from him, and there is nothing about his present circumstance which would indicate any reason for optimism or hope.

There's nothing about his circumstance that would give him any reason to have confidence or conviction. The culture was against him. The government was persecuting him. He had nothing to his name. And as far as the world is concerned, this troublemaker was about to be dispatched and then forever forgotten.

And yet he says that he is convinced that the one to whom he had committed everything would abolish death and give him immortality and not forget him, but instead raise him up on the last day and bring him safely into his eternal kingdom and give him eternal life and eternal glory.

That is a confidence. Sometimes it's difficult for us to just get to the end of the month and we need to have a payment made and we're a little short on the finances. We think, is God gonna be able to come through this month or how is this gonna work out?

Compare those circumstances to the Apostle Paul. He has given everything to Christ. He has done everything for Christ. And now he's sitting in a prison and it seems as if he is getting absolutely no return on that deposit or investment whatsoever.

But the Apostle Paul looks past the guillotine to the eternal glory and says he will usher me safely into his eternal kingdom. Friends, we have a saving gospel, a securing God and a sure glory and therefore we are not ashamed.

Baptism is a means by which we proclaim before other people our confidence in that God and we display in a physical way what it is that he has done for us spiritually speaking. I'm gonna explain to you just quickly what you're about to see up here.

You're about to see 14 people. We have 14 people being baptized this morning. So you're about to see 14 people be baptized and we are going to do in the physical realm what Christ has done for us. He died, he was buried and he rose again.

That is what baptism symbolizes. The word baptized means immersed. So we immerse, we don't sprinkle, we don't pour. We immerse those who have given a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ, demonstrating their union with him because Christ died in our place, because he rose again in our place.