2 TIMOTHY 1:1-14

1. IT IS A SINCERE FAITH: V5:
1. The King James calls it "unfeigned faith" which means "without dissimulation, without hypocrisy" it is a sincere faith. Now Coke may claim to be "the real thing," but in actuality, sincere faith is the real thing! No facade, no veneer, no thin coat of paint, no snow job, no pretense.
2. Paul describes those with insincere faith: "They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. You must stay away from people like that." 2 Timothy 3:5 (NLT). So called faith that rejects the power of God to make them godly is like a toy plastic car next to a real BMW!
3. Now, when we look at Lois and Eunice, the two mothers in the text, we see the kind of sincere faith we all ought to have.
1. Real faith is every day faith - not just Sunday, Christmas and Easter.
2. Real faith is an every situation faith - not just fair weather faith (when life is good) or foul weather faith (when life is the pits).
3. Real faith is Christ-centered faith - not just generic religious faith.
4. Real faith does not try to impress others with our religiosity.
5. Real faith is not just to salve our conscience and make us feel safe.
6. Real faith is not just to manipulate God.
7. Real faith is to be in right relationship to Jesus Christ.
4. Now, in the animal world, pretense is acceptable, and even essential to survival. For instance, butterflies might have spots on their wings which look like huge eyes to scare off predators. Some lizards can puff up and look ferocious. Chameleons take on the coloration of their surroundings. Some fish have the coloration of seaweed or sand. For animals and their survival, that's okay. God made them that way. But for Christians and faith - that's n.g. (No good!).

Well those football players needed a lesson in sincere faith. A week or so after they were baptized, a girl from their youth group walked by one of their homes. She saw some of them in the front yard, staggering around, swearing, vomiting and skunk drunk. "What are you doing?" she asked. "You became Christians - you can't do this!" One of them sneered at her and said, "Oh, yeh? Just because I got baptized don't mean I can't do whatever I want to do! Jesus or nobody can tell me what to do!" She said, "That's not right!" He retorted, "Well, you be a Christian the way you want to be a Christian, and I'll be a Christian the way I want to be a Christian. You believe what you believe and I'll believe what I want to believe." Now, whatever the girl believed and no matter how sincerely she believed it, her faith could not do any good for that boy or for anyone else. Each must possess a sincere and individual faith. The boy obviously lacked that. So what is the right kind of faith?

2. IT IS A PERSONAL FAITH: V5:
1. Notice: this faith was in Lois and in Eunice and in Timothy as well. That internal faith was his own faith, though it was passed on to him from grandmother to mother. It dwelt in him and was part and parcel of who and what he was, what he did, and how he lived.
2. There are many things you can inherit: baldness, tallness, ugliness, health tendencies, and even material possessions - but nobody can will you faith. It must be your own, sincere and personal. There is no second hand faith.
1. Samuel, a man of faith, had sons that were reprobate! 1 Samuel 8:3.
2. Aaron Burr was grandson of Jonathan Edwards a fiery preacher - but he was an unbeliever while his own granddaughter was devout.
3. Faith, to be faith, is intensely personal - that is, it must be faith that is in you. Someone else's faith doesn't work for you.
3. Check this out. The woman at the well in John 4 heard Jesus and believed. She returned to her village and told others about Him. They accompanied her back to the well and Jesus spent a day or so in their village and they heard Jesus themselves. Then they said, "Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, not just because of what you told us. He is indeed the Savior of the world." John 4:42 (NLT).
4. I called door to door when I first got to Albany. One man opened the door and after finding out I was from the church, said, "Oh, I'm not interested. My wife takes care of the religion in the family." and he shut the door.

The so called faith of the team was not sincere, not was it truly personal faith. They had hoped that by being baptized Jesus would make their team a winning team. They started out the season losing seven of their first eight games. What they had hoped would be a bang turned out to be a feeble pop. Apparently Jesus didn't suit up with them. One by one, the players who had claimed to be Christians dropped out of the church until there were only a couple of them there. Their faith didn't produce genuine fruit in their lives. They forsook the church, they forsook Christ and they forsook their pretense at faith. How utterly different the faith of Lois and Eunice. Mothers who had sincere, personal, and productive faith. What is the right kind of faith?

3. IT IS A FRUITFUL FAITH: VV6-14:
1. Sincere, personal faith is fruitful. It produces works, it is alive, it is dynamic, it changes lives.
1. Paul commended the Thessalonians Christians for their "work of faith."
2. James said that faith that doesn't have work is dead.
2. Note the fruit that faith produced in Timothy:
1. Faith produces courage in witnessing for Christ: In verses 7, 8 Paul says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So you must never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the proclamation of the Good News."
2. Faith produces confidence in Christ: In verse12 Paul says, "And that is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the One in Whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return."
3. Faith produces a unyielding adherence to true teaching: In verse 13 Paul says, "Hold on to the pattern of right teaching you learned from me."
3. Lois to Eunice to Timothy. The right kind of faith was passed on from one generation to the next. Sincere faith; personal faith; fruitful faith.
4. So, when you look into your own heart -- what kind of faith do you find?

The answer to that question can make all the difference in your life and in your eternity. Without faith it is impossible to please God. We are saved by grace through faith. Saving faith centers on Jesus Christ. It is believing that He is God's Son; it is trusting Him; it is obedient in turning from sin, confessing Him before others and being immersed for the forgiveness of sin. Faith, the right kind of faith, leads us to the surrender of our will to His, of our life to Him, and of the throne room of our heart to His Lordship. As we sing our hymn of commitment and invitation, if you have not done so before, surrender to Him today. It is in surrender that you find your real freedom; it is in surrender that you demonstrate the right kind of faith.

Story adapted from Hot Illustrations For Youth talks, Wayne Rice, Youth Specialties

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