Sermon Central
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I Know Whom I Have Believed
Contributed by Bruce Allen on Sep 19, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: In this exhortation to Timothy, Paul is admonishing him and us (as believers) to confess our Lord, to be convicted of His gospel, and to be committed to serving Him. To be able to say, "I know in whom I have believed ..."
I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED
I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for His own.
I know not how this saving faith to me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word wrought peace with in my heart.
I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin,
Revealing Jesus thro’ the Word, creating faith in Him.
I know not what of good or ill may be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days, before His face I see.
I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noon-day fair,
Nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him, or meet Him in the air.
“But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.” [KJV]
D. W. Whittle (1840-1901)
INTRODUCTION
Just like D. W. Whittle, in this hymn, we too may “know not” the “why” as to God’s grace. Yet, despite this lack of knowledge or understanding in Godly things when we look at our salvation in Christ we too declare with confidence; it doesn’t matter that I know not “WHY” because I know “WHOM” I have believed.
BACKGROUND
Paul was in a Roman prison, very near the end of his life. In this epistle he writes to the younger Timothy encouraging him to be “not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of Paul being in prison” – instead he [Timothy] should be willing to suffer for the “Gospel’s” sake, because the gospel was about our Savior, Jesus Christ.
PURPOSE
In this exhortation to Timothy, Paul is admonishing him and us (as believers in Christ) to confess confidently Jesus as our Lord, to be convinced of His gospel’s saving power, and to be committed to serving Him to the end. [vv. 8-9]
I. CONFESSION – “For I know whom I have believed”
** Knowledge - is based on information.
** Information - can be classified either as general or intimate.
General - usually means common knowledge, which is normally received from someone else.
*** A man was once asked what he believed about God. He replied, “I believe what my church believes.” [Well] “What does your church believe?’ He said, “My church believes what I believe.” [Then] “What do you and your church believe?’ He said, “We both believe the same thing.” - [S. Shepherd – SermonCentral.com, 7/02]
Is this a description of you or the church?
Why do you believe what you believe?
Do you believe in a “historical Jesus” - which is a general knowledge - of whom others have told you about? - Or, do you truly “know” Him in an intimate way?
Intimate – is that which is experienced or comes from having closeness in what you know. This is the type of knowledge spoken of here in our text.
Know – Greek: oida, (# 1492) - means: to have seen or perceived - to have knowledge of something in completeness [Vine’s Exp. Dict. of NT Words, 1996, 346].
*** I know my wife intimately, as most of you should be able to say concerning your spouse or a loved one in your family). I know her as my friend, who walks beside me and shares her love and life with me – she is the one I have entrusted my affections with. - This is what it means to know someone intimately!
*** Now what of Christ - can we too say that we intimately know Him - just as, intimately, as we do our loved ones?
1. Must know Him as your friend.
[Hymn] - “What A Friend We Have in Jesus”
“What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief’s to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!”
No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father [Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)].
2. Must walk with Him.
[Chorus] - “In The Garden”
“And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own”
Now that same day two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus … Together they were discussing everything that had taken place. And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus Himself came near and began to walk along with them. … He said to them, “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself … Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; but He disappeared from their sight. So they said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?” [HCSB].
