For I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. (2 Timothy 1:12)
The words of the great apostle stand in marked contrast to our age of doubt. Here is a positive confidence which defies us to shake its stability. Here is someone who has no doubts abut what he believes. He is certain, absolutely sure of it. It is so different from what we find prevalent in our day. In many places it is difficult to find anyone who truly believes anything anymore. Certainty is a rare commodity these days. And those who unequivocally proclaim their point of view to be right are dismissed with a wave of the hand as unenlightened. Truth has been made relative. What is true for one is not true for another, they say. And those who claim that there are absolutes are dismissed by the so-called "enlightened" as old-fashioned legalists, shallow-minded fundamentalists, who are somehow deficient in intellect. Those who consider themselves wise view skepticism, doubt, and uncertainty as marks of a truly sophisticated man. "Yes, but . . .", "perhaps, but", "maybe, but"; these are the watchwords of these relativists.
Those who make uncertainty a virtue would certainly have found Paul to be very narrow indeed. The great apostle said, "I know." Here was a man who boldly proclaimed that you could know some things without any doubt. Not only did he proclaim that you could know, but that he did know. "I know," he said. "What arrogance!" some would say. "How can he really know for sure."
But there are things we can know. And there are things we need to know. In knowing, we fill find that Rock on which to stand in uncertain times. Paul had that confidence, for he knew the Rock upon which his faith was established. He was a man with a confident testimony. He was a man with a confidence in Christ. Let’s look at that testimony and in looking, allow his words to draw us to their heights.
"For I know whom I have believed . . ." (v. 12a)
Here we have a statement of faith. It is really a confession of faith. Paul said, "I have believed." We designate our religion as "the Christian Faith." All that we have as Christians comes by faith. All that we receive from God comes by faith. The Philippian jailer asked Paul, "What must I do to be saved?" Paul replied, "Believe." Paul did not tell him that he had to work, or join, or reform, or hope. He simply stated that he had to believe. In other words, he had to have faith. Only by faith could he be saved — he and his whole household.
But notice here that it is faith in a person. That person is Jesus Christ. Paul’s confident testimony was that he had faith in Christ — a personal faith in a personal Christ. Notice here that he did not say that he had faith about him. Rather, he said that he had faith in him. Paul said, "I know WHOM I have believed." Paul did not say, "I believe certain things about Christ," he said, "I know Him." And there is a big difference. Now obviously you have to know about Christ in order to know Him. You cannot know Him without knowing about Him, but you can know about Him, without knowing Him. Do not underestimate the importance of this point. Many of you who attend these services regularly no doubt have noticed a regular emphasis in my preaching and teaching upon this very subject. Hopefully, the reason for such emphasis is clear. It is because I firmly believe that the primary reason for the anemic condition of the organized church in these days is that church rolls are filled with people who know about Christ, but do not know Christ. What makes the Church truly alive is the life of Christ in each of her members. The Church is a living body. It is a living organism. It is organized life. When you reduce it to merely an organization, all you have left is a corpse. That’s what a corpse is — organization without life. But the Church is not a corpse.
I might add that just as the Church is not a corpse, neither is it a ghost. While there are some who have reduced the Church to merely an organization, structure without life, there are others who would like to reduce it to life without structure. For them, it is somehow unspiritual to have a concrete organization. But the Church is neither corpse nor ghost. We need both life and structure. If we as humans were merely spirits without bodies, how would we function in a physical world? The church, likewise, must function in the world of the spirit and in the world of man. We must have both life and organization.
What the Church desperately needs today is to be thoroughly introduced to Christ. We need to know Him intimately. We need to put our faith, not merely in doctrines about Him, but in Him. As we trust Him by faith, then we will come to know Him by experience. And the more we experience Him, the more we will trust Him. You’ll never know unless you believe. But make no mistake about it. As you believe, you will come to know, for certain, just who Jesus is. You will know Him personally and intimately. You will know Him as your friend, your Savior and Lord.
That’s what we need. That’s what everyone needs — a real living relationship with Jesus. Let me ask you: Do you know Him? Have you believed Him? Do you have a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you met Him as a living person? That’s what you need. There is no substitute for it.
All the religion in the world can’t compensate for the lack of a relationship with Jesus. Nothing can compare with the privilege we enjoy of being able to converse with Him daily as friend to friend. We can speak to Him about the deepest needs of our lives. We can share our frustrations, our problems, our difficulties, our fears and doubts, and know He understands. We can confess our sins to Him and receive His forgiveness and strength. We can praise Him for His goodness and the blessings He bestows upon each of us. We can share our successes and joys, and offer the glory to Him. He is our friend and daily companion. Wherever we go, He goes. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He is always by our side. There is no more glorious privilege than knowing Him. And to know Him is to know God, for He is God. "I know whom I have believed . . ." That’s what we need. That kind of Christ-centered confession is the confident testimony the world needs to hear. It is the confidence in Christ we need to have.
". . . and I am convinced that He is able . . ." (v. 12b)
Here is Paul’s confident conviction. In the King James Version, it reads, "I am persuaded that He is able." Faith persuades of the truth. It convinces us. But of what are we to be convinced? We must be convinced that God is able. Here is a confident conviction in the power of God. But if you are to believe in His power, you must first believe Him. As we have already stated, you must come to know Him. As you exercise your faith in Christ, the confident conviction of His power working on your behalf will be there.
In Hebrews 11:1, we read, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." In other words, faith and conviction go hand in hand. Faith is both assurance and conviction, according to this verse. These are terms of certainty. They indicate to us that because of our faith, we can know. And only by knowing Christ will you come into that relationship where you can be persuaded and convinced of His power to work in your life.
I believe you will be convinced by two things: You will be convinced by the Word of God, and by your own experience. We read in the Word of God the promises of God. And by faith we accept those promises. We believe them to be true because God said they were true. We come to understand that people have proven them to be true throughout the years. And so we learn to trust Christ’s word because we have learned to trust Christ.
The reason why many people doubt His word is because they have not come to know HIM personally. I had one minister friend who told me that he was once a liberal. He said he used to doubt God’s Word. But then an interesting thing happened — he surrendered to Christ. He said that since that time, he had never had any problem with the Bible, God’s Word. We believe God’s Word because we believe God.
In knowing Christ, however, God has given us an additional proof. We become convinced of His power because of our own experience as well. Paul trusted Christ with his ministry, his safety, his reputation, his emotional well-being, with every detail of his life, and so can we. And as we do, we will prove by our own experience that Christ’s power and promises and personal care are very real indeed. A verse from Andraé Crouch’s song, Through It All, says it well:
I thank God for the mountains,
And I thank Him for the valleys,
I thank Him for the storms He brought me through;
For If I’d never had a problem
I wouldn’t know that He could solve them,
I’d never know what faith in God could do.Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God;
Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His word.
Because we know Him, we believe in His word. And because we have experienced His care, we trust in His power. We must both believe in Him, and in His power. In Hebrews 11:6, it says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Paul said, "I am convinced — He is and He is able." He not only had a Christ-centered confession, he also had a confident conviction.
". . . to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." (v. 12c)
The King James Version says, "To guard what I have committed to Him." The great apostle’s faith culminates in a consuming commitment to Christ. Commitment undergirds all else in the Christian life. It is foundational to faith.
Someone once tried to describe commitment using the illustration of a breakfast of bacon and eggs. The chicken contributed to the breakfast. The pig was committed.
Let me give you a simple definition of Christian commitment: Christian commitment is unconditional surrender to Christ. As we come to Christ in faith, that faith will result in our commitment of surrender to Him, which in turn, will result in more faith, which will result in more commitment, and so on. It is an upward spiral of faith and commitment. That is what it means to follow Jesus.
The call of Christ is always a call to commitment. It is a call to trust Him. It is a call to live for Him. It is a call to follow Him. It is a call to surrender our lives to Him. There will be no continuing confession of our faith without that commitment of surrender. There will be no confident conviction without that commitment of surrender. Paul had made a commitment to Christ. It was a consuming commitment. It was a commitment of all He was, of all he had, of all he ever hoped to be. Paul said, "For me to live is Christ." Christ was not a part of his life. Christ was his life. And so He should be to every Christian present in this place and around the world.
The great apostle’s certainty came as a result of surrender to Christ. If we are to be certain about our faith, we must be committed to it. We must be willing to dive in head first, into the deep waters, instead of being content to stay in the wading pool. Some today are uncertain because they have never really given their all. Your disillusionment about the Christian faith may not be because it has failed; it may be because it has never been tried. What we need is a consuming commitment to follow Jesus, whatever the cost. Then we will know what it is to see defeat turned into victory, sorrow turned into joy, death turned into life, and impotence turned into power.
Paul said he was convinced that Christ is able to guard what he had committed to Him. I suppose the real question is: What have we committed to Christ? If Christ will only guard what we have committed to Him, then why would we withhold anything from Him? Will you trust Christ with yourself, with all you have, without reservation? Is there anything you’re holding back from Him today? Is there anything you haven’t entrusted to His care? Are you withholding anything from the Lord this morning? Can you say, "Lord, I’m yours — totally yours. Everything I am, everything I have, I entrust to you." Can you say, "Lord, I trust you with my life, my future, my money, my material possessions, my marriage, my children, and their futures? Lord, there’s nothing I withhold from you. For I am confident that you are able to guard what I have entrusted to you until that day."
A Christ-centered confession: "I know whom I have believed." I know Jesus. I have a personal relationship with Him. A confident conviction: "And I am convinced that He is able." I not only know Him, I am convinced that He is working on my behalf according to His mighty power. And a consuming commitment: "To guard what I have entrusted to Him against that day." And I trust my entire life to Him and with Him — all I am, and all I have. It is in good hands when it is in His hands. This is what a confidence in Christ is all about.
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