01.05. I Know Whom I Have Believed
“I Know Whom I Have Believed”
(2 Timothy 1:12) CHAPTER FIVE
SATISFACTION IN KNOWLEDGE
GREAT satisfaction is found in knowledge. To know thoroughly one’s business or profession brings a sense of self-confidence. “Knowledge is power.” We like to say with authority, “I know,” but there are some people who spend their time wondering about things of which they could easily be sure.
Are you saved?
“I don’t think you can know about that until after you are dead,” you may reply. “I hope I am saved.” But you can know.
The Bible is definite on the subject of salvation, and on the authority of God’s Word you can know whether you are saved or not. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). God cannot lie, and the man who meets God’s conditions can be assured that God keeps His promises. Jesus said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). If you have come in faith to Christ and trusted Him as your Saviour, you can be sure that He saves you.
A long time ago somebody said, “Christianity is not a hope-so religion; it is a know-so religion.” God would have men know whether or not they are saved. The Bible is full of warning to the sinner. God wants the sinner to know that abundant salvation is found in Jesus Christ so that he will turn to Christ and pass from death to life. God desires that the Christian have full assurance of his salvation and be able to say with conviction, “I know I am saved!”
Paul did not have any doubt about the matter. He said, “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” (2 Timothy 1:12). Every Christian can be just as positive as Paul since God’s Holy Spirit indwelling us testifies to the reality of our salvation. “The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).
How can a sinner know His sins on earth forgiven?
How can my gracious Saviour show My name inscribed in heaven?
What we have felt and seen, With confidence we tell;
And publish to the sons of men The signs infallible.
We who in Christ believe That He for us hath died,
We all His unknown peace receive, And feel His blood applied.
Exults our rising soul, Disburdened of her load,
And swells unutterably full
Of glory and of God.
-Charles Wesley
SEVENFOLD UNION
CHRIST and the believer are joined together in an association and relationship as wonderful as it is blessed. There are seven points in which the Christian is associated with his Lord.
The Christian is crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). When Christ died on the cross He paid our death penalty there. Christ hung there for us and in God’s sight we were crucified with Him.
The Christian is quickened together with Him (Ephesians 2:5). The believer is alive with Christ. This is what Paul meant when he said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Php 1:21). We are possessors of His eternal life. Because He lives, we live also (John 14:19).
The Christian is raised together with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). We are raised from the death of sin to walking in newness of life. When Christ rose from the tomb the resurrection of every child of God was as assured as if he had himself already risen.
The Christian is seated together in heavenly places with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). We enjoy heavenly privileges now: fellowship and communion with Him. We who are members of the body are represented in heaven by Christ who is the Head of the Church, and while we are yet here in the body on the earth, we are present in Him in the Court of Glory.
The Christian is a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17). He is the heir of all things and He is our Elder Brother. We share in the family possessions. His heritage is jointly ours.
The Christian suffers with Christ (Romans 8:17). This is one phase of our relationship with Him which many of us would like to avoid, but the suffering which touches one member of a family touches all the family. No portion of the body suffers to itself and upon our relation with Christ in suffering depends our relation with Him in glory.
The Christian will be glorified together with Christ (Romans 8:17). Amazing mercy, love beyond our comprehension, that He who is worthy of all glory sees fit to share it with us who deserve none!
Reality, reality,
Lord Jesus Christ Thou art to me!
From the spectral mist and the driving clouds,
From the shifting shadows and phantom crowds,
From unreal words and unreal lives,
Where truth with falsehood feebly strives;
From the passings away, the chance and change,
Flickerings, vanishings, swift and strange,
I turn to my glorious rest in Thee, Who art the grand Reality!
Reality, reality,
Lord Jesus Christ is crowned in Thee,
In Thee is every type fulfilled,
In Thee is every yearning stilled
For perfect beauty, truth and love:
For Thou art always far above
The grandest glimpse of our Ideal,
Yet more and more we know Thee real,
And marvel more and more to see Thine infinite reality.
Reality, reality,
Lord Jesus Christ Thou art to me!
My glorious King, my Lord, my God,
Life is too short for half the laud,
For half the debt of praise I owe,
For this blest knowledge that “I know
The reality of Jesus Christ”-
Unmeasured blessing, gift unpriced!
Will I not praise Thee when I see In the long noon of eternity Unveiled, Thy “bright reality”?
- Frances Ridley Havergal
THE END OF THE SEARCH
IT IS a strange thing how often people accuse other folk of doing the very thing of which they themselves are guilty. Zophar, one of the three men who came to “comfort” Job at the time of his sorrow and poverty, thought he knew all there was to know about God, yet he accused Job of being guilty of this same presumption and asked him, “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” (Job 11:7).
Man by searching can find out much about God. The physical universe reveals a great deal of the power and skill and wisdom of the Almighty. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge” (Psalms 19:1-2).
- The ordered regularity of the movements of the heavenly bodies reveal to the searching telescope of the astronomer the attribute of perfection which God possesses.
- The complexities in the patterns of nature speak of the infinite wisdom of God.
- The workings of God’s moral law proclaim His justice.
God “plants His foot upon the sea and rides upon the storm,” and the searcher finds everywhere in creation evidence of Deity.
Finding out the Almighty to perfection is another thing. But Christ is the end of that search. The man who finds Christ finds the only perfect revelation of God. “He that hath seen me,” said Jesus, “hath seen the Father” (John 14:9), and in Christ is found the only perfect revelation of Deity in all His attributes. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
He is God Incarnate, and the man who finds Christ finds God perfect in power, perfect in love, perfect in wisdom.
Job, looking forward with the eyes of faith through the years and seeing Him, exclaimed, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25-26).
When we find Christ we find God, and having our faith fixed on Him who is God the Redeemer, we share Job’s assurance that some day, when our bodies have been transformed into the likeness of His glorious body, then in our flesh we shall see God.
Majestic sweetness sits enthroned Upon the Saviour’s brow;
His head with radiant glories crowned, His hps with grace o’erflow.
He saw me plunged in deep distress;
He flew to my relief;
For me He bore the shameful cross, And carried all my grief. To Him I owe my life and breath, And all the joys I have;
He makes me triumph over death;
He saves me from the grave.
To heaven, the place of His abode, He brings my weary feet;
Shows me the glories of my God, And makes my joy complete.
Since from His bounty I receive Such proofs of love divine,
Had I a thousand hearts to give, Lord, they should all be Thine.
-Samuel Stennett
THE SERENITY OF SURRENDER
THE Lord Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). The man or woman whose faith is fixed in Him will be filled with a sense of complete confidence no matter how much conditions around him change. As the Prince of Peace, Christ is able to give peace of mind to those whose lives and thoughts are centered in Him.
The Christian should be unaffected by the variations in emotional temperature which occur around him. With a faith which is constant and unchanging, he walks serene amid the change and chaos of the world around. He maintains an inward peace however noisy the tumult and bloody the war which shakes the earth around him. When others are afraid he maintains the same restful attitude of trust which he felt when outward conditions were settled and quiet. He lives in the world but inwardly he is unaffected by its changing currents of thought, its seething emotions, its vain ideas. He is not swept off his feet by the current of popular opinion. His faith is fixed in a God who is eternal; his feet are set on the Rock of Ages. The secret of maintaining such a state of life as this is found in the words of Isaiah: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee” (Isaiah 26:3). The man whose mind is constantly occupied with the affairs of this world, whose affection is fixed upon temporal things, is bound to be affected by the loss of earthly possessions and the changing conditions which give them changing values. Paul says to the Christian, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2). Both life and peace are the possession of the man who is spiritually minded (Romans 8:6).
Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see, And in Thy presence rest.
No voice can sing, nor heart can frame, Nor can the memory find
A sweeter sound than Thy blest Name, O Saviour of mankind!
O Hope of every contrite heart!
O Joy of all the meek!
To those who ask, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!
But what to those who find? Ah! this No tongue nor pen can show:
The love of Jesus, what it is, None but His loved ones know.
Jesus, our only joy be Thou, As Thou our prize wilt be;
In Thee be all our glory now,
And through eternity.
-Bernard of Clairvaux
UNDER TO
MY LITTLE two-year-old son had been learning Bible verses, which he recited at the time of family prayer each day. One morning he essayed Luke 18:16, which he quoted in this fashion: “Suffer the little children to come under to me.”
That is not an accurate quotation, but as a reflection of the spirit and manner in which one must come to Christ it is very accurate indeed. Not only a little child but also the man or the woman who comes to Christ comes under to Him.
- The man who is saved placed himself under the blood which Christ shed for man’s redemption.
- Surrender to the Lord Jesus means coming under His dominion, bringing oneself under allegiance to Him.
- The surrendered believer takes upon himself the yoke of Christ and bows his shoulders under His burden.
The Lord tells us His yoke is easy and His burden is light, but no yoke can be placed on a neck that is not bowed and no burden can be carried on a back unbent.
No man can be saved until he recognizes himself as a sinner and is conscious of his need of salvation. The proud of heart and the haughty of spirit must be humbled and brought low if he is to experience the saving grace of God.
It is by simple, trusting faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that men are redeemed. “Except ye be converted, and become as little children,” says Christ, “ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Trusting Christ,
- We serve under His leadership;
- We fight under His banner;
- We rest under His love;
- We trust under His power.
Our sins are under His blood; our lives are under His care; our wills are under His command. Coming to Christ, we come out from under the guilt of sins, from under the wrath of God, which abides on the unbeliever (John 3:36).
When we come to Christ it is a coming “under to” Him. Our wills, our lives, our thoughts, and our duties are brought into captivity to the Lord Jesus. We are subjects under His sway, whom we acknowledge as the King of our lives.
I am coming to the cross;
I am poor and weak and blind;
I am counting all but dross:
I shall full salvation find.
Here I give my all to Thee, Friends and time and earthly store;
Soul and body Thine to be,
Wholly Thine forevermore.
Gladly I accept Thy grace;
Gladly I obey Thy Word;
All Thy promises embrace, O my Saviour and my Lord.
I am trusting, Lord, in Thee, Blessed Lamb of Calvary;
Humbly at Thy cross I bow,
Seeking Thy salvation now.
- William McDonald
I DO NOT KNOW
THERE is much I do not know; there is much I cannot know.
- I do not know what a day may bring forth.
- I do not know what tomorrow has in store for me.
- I do not know what will be the outcome of the things I undertake.
- I do not know where the path of life may lead me before I reach its end.
- I do not know where sorrow awaits along the way or where death lurks.
- I do not know where I may come across something which I would like to escape.
- I do not know when I may be afflicted with sickness or disease.
- I do not know when I may be called upon to pass through a fiery trial or when tragedy may strike.
- I do not know when a loved one may be taken away or when I shall be called to join those who have gone before.
- I do not know why sorrows come into our lives.
- I do not know why innocent people are called upon to suffer for the sins of others.
- I do not know why things which I desire are denied me nor why things which I would avoid are thrust upon me.
- I do not know how the flesh can stand the suffering which it is sometimes called upon to endure.
- I do not know how the soul can go through the waters deep and chill, which threaten to engulf it.
- I do not know how to reconcile God’s love for men with the terrible tragedy and suffering which Divine Providence visits upon them.
But, I do not need to know what, nor when, nor how, nor why, because I do know “whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12).
I know God. In the Lord Jesus Christ I find Him perfectly revealed. The God I know is a God of love. His love is manifest in the death of Christ on the cross for our sins. He loved us and gave Himself for us.
The God I know is wise. He is the Author of all wisdom and all knowledge. He knows the end from the beginning. The God I know is omnipotent. He upholds “all things by the word of his power.”
I can trust Him who is Himself perfect love and power and wisdom. He knows what I need and understands what is best for me, and He will not permit anything else to come into my life. He is able to give me strength to face whatever may come into my life. Do you know Him?
I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was, Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting place, And He has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one, Stoop down and drink, and live!”
I came to Jesus, and I drank Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, And now I live in Him.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s light;
Look unto Me; thy morn shall rise, And all thy day be bright!”
I looked to Jesus, and I found In Him my star, my sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk, Till traveling days are done.
-Horatius Bonar HE KNOWS HIS OWN
IN Westminster Abbey on the tomb of Britain’s “unknown soldier” of the First World War is carved a portion of 2 Timothy 2:19 : “The Lord knoweth them that are his.”
The Bible teaches that a sinner lost and undone, without hope here and hereafter, by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour becomes a child of God, a member of the family of God.
- Just as a father knows the names of his children, so the Lord knows the names of those who belong to Him.
- As a shepherd can identify his sheep though they may be mixed with a strange flock, so the Divine Shepherd identifies the sheep of His flock wherever they may be among the kindreds and tribes and nations of the world.
This verse brings great comfort to God’s people in times of trial.
When war strikes, families are separated, sons go off to battle, homes are broken by the invader and parents lose contact with children, but in the midst of all the turmoil and chaos and confusion, the Lord still knows His own. To whatever spot they may have been removed His eye has followed them. In a world that has been cursed with war upon war, amid the destruction of armies, God’s eye has seen as His own have fallen on the field of battle. Amid the carnage on the seas He has watched as His children have gone down to death in the deep waters. He has watched planes speeding through the flaming air and has seen the fall of His own to the earth.
Just as the Lord called His friend Lazarus by name, bidding him come forth from the grave, so on some glorious day the dead in Christ shall rise at the sound of His voice speaking to His own, “Come forth!” God’s family will someday be united; but now scattered over the earth He knows them that are His, and He keeps watch also even above the scattered dust of His sleeping children. The Lord knows them that are His and in all the darkness of bloody days standeth God within the shadows keeping watch above His own.
Lord, it belongs not to my care Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share, And this Thy grace must give.
If life be long, I will be glad, That I may long obey;
If short, yet why should I be sad To soar to endless day?
Christ leads me through no darker rooms Than He went through before;
He that into God’s kingdom comes Must enter by this door.
Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet Thy blessed face to see:
For if Thy work on earth be sweet, What will Thy glory be!
My knowledge of that life is small, The eye of faith is dim;
But ‘tis enough that Christ knows all, And I shall be with Him.
- Richard Baxter GOD’S MEMORY
GOD manifests His grace and goodness in the things which He remembers.
A man whose life has been sinful and vile, who has on his soul the guilt and weight of all kinds of sin, trusts Christ as his Saviour and his guilt is washed away in the blood of the cross. God says to the poor sinner who has been saved by grace concerning his sins that He will remember them against him no more forever. Not only is the guilt washed away, not only is the burden lifted, not only are the sins forgiven-as far as God is concerned, they are forgotten as well.
This is what God forgets for the one who by faith in Christ becomes a child of God: the deeds of his sinful past. But the God who is so merciful in His forgetting is gracious in His remembering, too, for He never fails to keep a record of the good deeds and kind words of His children. He remembers them to reward them. Even the giving of a cup of cold water in His Name He does not forget.
The book of Malachi tells us that “they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him” (Malachi 3:16).
The God of the universe sets down in the record the kind things which people who love Him say about Him. One day those who have been saved by grace through faith will stand before Him, not to be judged for the sins they committed before they were saved, for God has completely forgotten them, but they will stand before Him to receive a reward and He in that hour will recall to mind all that they have done and said for love of Him. Not one word will be forgotten, not one deed will be unremembered, but each shall have its reward.
“But gather all My saints,” He cries, “That made their peace with God,
By the Redeemer’s sacrifice, And seal’d it with His blood.
Their faith and works brought forth to light Shall make the world confess
My sentence of reward is right, And heaven adore My grace.”
- Isaac Watts
SECRETS SHARED
GOD came to visit Abraham and Abraham was host to God Himself. This occasion is described in Genesis 18:1-33. In the likeness of man, the Lord and two angelic companions appeared to Abraham one day as he sat in the door of his tent. The hospitable patriot made them rest themselves in the shade while he washed their feet and set food before them. After the visit, Abraham went with them to bring them on their way toward Sodom. As the two angels went on toward the condemned city, the Lord Himself lingered behind to talk over His plans with his friend Abraham, saying, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” (Genesis 18:17).
What a wonderful privilege to entertain the Lord! What a glorious experience to share with Him the secrets of His omniscient mind. Yet, while we envy Abraham the intimacy and fellowship of this occasion, we forget that it is a privilege which we may enjoy. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
The Lord still tells His friends the things which He is going to do. In the Word He still declares to us not only His plans for the world but also the things which He is preparing for those who love Him. Christ says to us, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). He reveals the judgments and the destruction which He will pour out on this world of iniquity and sin as He revealed to Abraham that His wrath was to be poured out in fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
God would not have His child ignorant of His plans. He wants us to know that the dead shall be raised again, that the throne of the Lord shall be established in this earth, that every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, that when He shall reign the redeemed shall reign with Him. As much as our finite minds can comprehend of His divine purpose and plans, He tells us and for our joy assures us that beyond all we can comprehend, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Nor eye has seen, nor ear has heard, Nor sense nor reason known
What joys the Father has prepar’d For those that love the Son.
But the good Spirit of the Lord Reveals a heaven to come:
The beams of glory in His Word Allure and guide us home.
Those holy gates forever bar Pollution, sin and shame;
None shall obtain admittance there But followers of the Lamb.
He keeps the Father’s book of life,
There all their names are found; The hypocrite in vain shall strive
To tread the heavenly ground.
- Isaac Watts
REPAYMENT IN ACCEPTANCE
IT IS impossible for any man to repay God for His goodness. Man has no gifts to offer God but those with which God has endowed him. Everything in the universe belongs to the God who made all things. The wealth of mines, expanse of fertile fields, all that makes a man rich, supports life, or delight the eye comes as a gift from the Creator. “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). He “giveth to all men liberally” (James 1:5). Man has nothing to offer God since all belongs to God anyway and has merely been poured out on man from the bountiful hand of a loving Creator.
The psalmist, feeling the impossibility of requiting God for His goodness, cries out, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalms 116:12). Then he answers his question in these words: “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalms 116:13). Man cannot repay God for His goodness. The only offering which he can make in return is one of thankful acceptance. To accept the gift with a heart full of praise and love for the Giver is the only way that man can in any degree recompense God. God gives because He loves. Thankful acceptance springing from a heart of love is the only return Deity desires for His gifts.
The greatest of all God’s gifts is the gift of His Son. Accepting Him as Saviour, the thankful heart of a redeemed sinner takes the cup of salvation. Hard of heart and thoughtless and inconsiderate is the man who accepts God’s gifts without calling upon His Name in thanksgiving. Hard of heart indeed is the man who despises God’s love and rejects His greatest gift-Jesus Christ.
I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew,
He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me;
It was not I that found, O Saviour true;
No, I was found of Thee.
Thou didst reach forth Thy hand and mine enfold;
I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea,
‘Twas not so much that I on Thee took hold,
As Thou, dear Lord, on me.
I find, I walk, I love, but, O the whole
Of love is but my answer, Lord, to Thee!
For Thou wert long beforehand with my soul;
Always Thou lovedst me.
- Anonymous ~ end of chapter 5 ~