our Bibles tonight to First Timothy
chapter 2. First Timothy chapter 2. I exhort
therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving
of thanks be made for all men. For kings and for all that are
in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in
all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God, our Savior, who will have all men to be saved
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one
God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due
time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher
and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not, a teacher
of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will, therefore, that
men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and
doubting, And like manner also that women adorn themselves in
modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with brooded
hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women
professing godliness with good works. Let the woman learn in
silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then
Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived
was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be
saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity
and holiness with sobriety. In Paul's letter to Titus. And you know, 1st Timothy, 2nd
Timothy, and the letter of Titus are called pastoral epistles. But in his letter to Titus, he
began by saying, For this cause left I thee in Crete, That is,
on the island of Crete. For this cause left I thee in
Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are
wanting. Set in order the things that
are wanting. Now he didn't say that to Timothy
about beseeching him to remain in Ephesus, but that's what we
see. That's what we see in this letter. In chapter one, Timothy was told
to set in order that which is preached, that which is preached,
set in order, to teach no other doctrine but the glorious gospel
of the blessed God. Now in the verses that we are
looking at tonight, which will only be the first seven verses,
it is a matter of public worship that something needed to be set
in order. Prayer, we recognize, is a very
important part of our spiritual life. It's a very important part
of our worship. And it is possible, we do not
know for sure, but it is possible that Paul knew of some irregularity
concerning prayer in this church at Ephesus. We know that he knew
of an irregularity in what was being taught. Because we saw
this before, some had turned aside unto vain jangling. In that matter, he gave Timothy
a charge. I charge thee, he said. But now,
this portion begins with I exhort. And if you have a marginal reading
in your Bible, You see that word exhort, it could be translated
desire, or as some have translated, urge. I exhort, I urge, I desire. As we look at these verses, these
seven verses tonight, I want us to do so by asking and answering
five questions. Five questions. The first question
is this. What is meant by these different
words? Supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks. They're all synonyms. We recognize
that. But is there any difference? Do they have a different meaning? And the answer is yes. Paul urges
that prayer be made for all men. And as we look at these four
words, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks, we learn something about prayer. The first word, supplications. Now what does that mean, supplications? It has the meaning of petitions
for specific, definite needs. specific, definite needs. For instance, if a brother or
a sister in our congregation needs a job or something like
that, then we may pray specifically for that need. If a person is
sick, we may pray specifically that the sickness be removed. or a person receives some bad
news, and all of us do from time to time, we hear some news that
we consider to be bad to us, we may pray that God will overrule
that, whatever it is, for good. God will overrule that for good,
for our good and for God's glory. And of course, you know this
before I go on, We always pray according to God's will, always. No matter what these words mean,
we recognize that above all of them, supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks, everything is submitted
to the will of God. That's part of prayer, isn't
it? Not my will, but thy will be done. Supplications, as one writer
said, humble request which one makes in the light of this or
that concrete situation in which God and He alone can furnish
the help that is needed. Some definite need, some concrete
need, a situation where we need God's help and He's the only
one who can help. He's the only one who can answer
this supplication. Now the second word, the word
prayers. Now since this word is given
along with the other three, we know that it must have a somewhat
different meaning than generally as we think of prayer. Now it's
been suggested that the word prayer here It means that we
pray, we ask for those things which we always have need of. Now, I urge, Paul said, that
prayers be made for all men, supplications, prayers. We always
have some needs that are general, don't we? I mean, every day we
need mercy. Every day we need wisdom. Every
day we need God's grace. We need his strength. And that's
probably what is meant here by the word prayers, these needs
that we always have. And I don't know about you, but
for myself, I pray every day, Lord, draw me near, near. It just seems like that's part
of prayer for me. I want to be near to the Lord. I want to walk in his presence,
don't you? These are needs that we have
day by day. And then the word intercessions. This is asking for others, the
interest of others. And William Hendrickson in his
commentary said that we should do this when we ask, make intercessions
for others without holding back. That is, without holding anything
back, we ask the Lord for the good, for the needs of others.
And then lastly, thanksgiving. Now thanks, thanksgiving, is
always part of our prayers. You don't ever pray, do you,
without thanking the Lord? I doubt it. I know we shouldn't. Look over here in Philippians,
back a few pages in Philippians chapter 4. We recognize that
giving thanks is a very important part of our prayers. Thanking
the Lord, first of all, for who He is. Thanking the Lord that
we have access unto Him. Just imagine, my friends, that
through the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I, we have access to
God Almighty. We come into the throne room
of God Almighty through the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. But
here in Philippians 4 and verse 6, Paul said, be careful for
nothing. That is, don't be anxious. Oh,
we need that exhortation, don't we? It's very seldom a day we
don't need to hear that. Don't be anxious. And as our
Lord said, don't borrow from tomorrow's problems. Don't be concerned and worried
about something that may come to pass or may be in the future. You may be concerned about something,
anxious about something that never ever happens even. Be anxious. Be careful for nothing,
but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God. So, what is meant by
these different words? Supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks. They're little different meaning
connotation for all of these words, and as we look at them,
They all help us to rightly order our prayers. We don't have a
prayer book. We don't read our prayers. You
know, that caused a big split in the Church of England years
ago, didn't it? It was all over the prayer book
that they printed up and made the people read, and the priests,
the preachers would have to read those prayers. And some of them
wanted to pray extemporaneously, as we believe prayer should be.
But we need to order our prayers, don't we? In other words, before
we bow our knees and call upon the Lord, we should stop and
think who we're talking to, first of all. Who is this I'm speaking
with? This is God. This is God. And how am I able to speak to
Him? we might order. But Paul says, I urge, I exhort
therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving
of thanks be made for all men. Now that brings me to the second
question. What is meant by all men? All men. Now, many people, they
pick up a Bible and they begin to read it and they read this
and they say, well, Obviously it means each and every individual. Each and every individual. That's
what is meant by all men. But no, it cannot mean that. It cannot mean that because many
of the all men, if that is the definition of all men, many of
the all men when Paul wrote this were already in hell. They were
already in hell. And we're not taught to pray
for the dead, but if it includes each and every individual who
is alive, who's ever lived, then yes, it would be to pray for
those who are already in hell, no. To pray for those who are
already in heaven, no. They don't need our prayers.
Thank God, they don't need anything. They have everything. The apostle
John, He wrote in his first epistle, he said there's a sin, there's
a sin unto death, and he said this, I do not say that he shall
pray for it. In other words, there is a sin,
John said, and don't pray for that. Of course, we believe that
is sin against the Holy Spirit, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
But this must be recognized. In answering this question, what
is meant by all men? Well, whatever, now listen, whatever
is meant in verse 1 by all men must have the same meaning in
verse 4. Verse 4, who will have all men
to be saved. Well, let's look at some verses.
And you know it cannot mean each and every individual of mankind,
for we know that all men are not saved. The same term, all
men, who will have all men to be saved. Prayer be made for
all men. All men are not saved. Let's look at some verses of
Scripture, and there's many, but I've just chosen out these
few. Turn over just a page or two
to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 and verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. Now, people may differ as
to what is meant by the grace of God here. Some, and I'm one,
believe it means the gospel, the gospel of the grace of God.
It hath appeared unto all men. But does that mean the gospel
has been preached to each and every individual that has ever
lived? All mankind? Of course not. Of course not. And others believe that it means
salvation itself. The grace of God hath appeared
unto all men. That is salvation itself. Well,
if you take either one of those understandings of the grace of
God, either the gospel of the grace of God or salvation itself,
certainly no one would say that it has appeared unto all men. That all men in this world, there
are people today who've never heard the gospel of the grace
of God, and they never will hear it. So all men here has to be
understood in a limited sense. Now look with me in Luke, back
in the gospel of Luke, just a moment. Luke chapter 3, verse 15. And as the people were in expectation,
and all men mused in their heart. All men. You say, well, that
just means those who are alive at that time. Well, even so,
do you think every person on the face of the earth when John
the Baptist was here, that every man, woman, boy and girl mused
in their heart? That's what it says. All men. All men mused in their hearts
of John, whether he were the Christ or not. Look in Mark, Mark chapter 11.
And as I said, it's just a few of these verses that I've chosen
out, but there are many others. Mark chapter 11. But if we shall say of men, they
feared the people, for all men counted John that he was a prophet
indeed. All men. The Pharisees, do you
think the Pharisees thought that? Sadducees? Did they believe that
he was a prophet? And then one other place in John's
gospel, chapter three, in verse 26, And they came unto John, and
said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan,
to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and
all men come to him. All men? The Pharisees, the Sadducees,
those people that were continually trying to catch him in his words?
No, they didn't come to Christ, and yet it says all men. Now, In the context, and we often
say that, everybody, everybody, well, everybody that actually,
if you want to take that in the way some people understand all
men, that means all seven billion people on the face of the earth.
Everybody. We use the word everybody and
we're not thinking of seven billion people, are we? You know, I was
thinking about this as an example. How many times at a wedding service,
at the beginning of the wedding service, as a preacher, you know,
you're kind of put off to the side until everything is ready. And then they say, is everybody
ready? Everybody ready? What do we mean
by everybody? Everybody in the world? Of course
not. Everybody that has a part in that wedding, and especially
the bride. The bride. Is she ready? Are
they ready for her to come down the aisle? No, in the context
here in 1 Timothy, you've got to take the words, the saying,
all men, in context to understand it. And what Paul is speaking
of in the context here is various classes or orders of men. He speaks of rulers. Well, if
there are rulers, there are those who obey their subjects. But I think especially more than
that, and that's true. But more than that, he is telling
Timothy that prayer should be made for all men, not just for
Jews, or not to the exclusion of Jews, not just for Gentiles,
but for all men, both Jew and Gentile, and those who are in
authority. Now, what is the end desired
in praying for those in authority? Verses 2 and 3. For kings and
for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and honesty for this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. What is the end
desired when we pray for those who are in authority and we are
to pray for them? It is that we may lead a quiet
and a peaceable life in godliness and honesty in serving the Lord. It's not for selfish motives. Paul is not encouraging Timothy
to have the believers pray for these in authority, for any selfish
motives, but that they might live a life of reasonably tranquility. You know, when there's wars and
tumults and things like that going on in a location, it's
not the best time to preach the gospel. It's really not. And that's the whole purpose
here, that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life. We pray for
the rulers that they would do nothing, pass no laws, govern
in any way that would impede the preaching of the gospel.
That's what we pray for here in our congregation. Almost every
Sunday we pray for our leaders, do we not? We recognize God placed
them in those places of authority, the president and the senators
and the congressmen and the Supreme Court and the governor and all
of these people. God raises up one and puts down
another. They don't just get there by
accident. I know it may seem like that
sometimes, and we may not be in agreement with all of those
personally. But we pray for them, and our
prayer is, first of all, I pray that God will have mercy on them,
don't you? That God will save them. I tell
you, that's a dangerous place for anybody to be in a place
of authority and power like some men and women are raised to.
Because most likely, they'll never, ever hear the gospel of
the grace of God. Most likely. So we pray, first of all, that
God might save them, but also that they will govern in such
a way that we have freedom here, don't we? In some countries,
they don't have that freedom. People gather together like we
are here tonight, they might be in fear that the authorities
gonna bust through the door and take all of us away. put us in
some kind of a camp or burn us out. I mean, that's happening
all the time, and it has. So that's the reason we pray
for those in authority, that we might live a quiet and peaceable
life in honesty and godliness. Now here's the fourth question.
What are we told about the all men who are saved? verses four through six. What
are we told about the all men who are saved? Who will have
all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth
for there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified
in due time." Now, I want to give us three things from those
verses of Scripture which are true of every person who is saved,
the all men who are saved. There's three things that are
told about you tonight if you are saved. There's three things
here told about you, about me, and about every person whom the
Lord saves. Number one, the all men who are
saved are saved because of the will of God. Because of the will
of God. No one has ever been saved and
no one will ever be saved by chance or by luck or by good
fortune, no. But everyone who is saved is
saved by the will of God because God purposed our salvation. God ordained our salvation if
we are saved. Now that's true of everyone.
Let's look at a couple of scripture. You know, I'll just read this
one, Romans 9 in verse 16. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. What about James? Look over here,
James chapter 1. James chapter 1 and verse 18. Of his own will, whose will? Well, it's not the will of the
flesh, and it's not of blood, not the will of man. Whose will? God's will. God's will. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. Never apart from it, with the
word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of
his creatures. And one other place in Acts,
you're familiar with this passage, I'm sure, but in Acts chapter
13, Paul and Barnabas, they were
invited to preach in the synagogue in Antioch. And of course, there were some proselytes there,
some Gentiles, and they said, man, we want to hear that message. And so they said, okay, the next
week, Turned out the whole city showed up. Whole city, but most
of the city were Gentiles. And you know what the Jews thought
about that. No, that wasn't what they intended,
was it? But look here in Acts chapter
13 in verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
what was it they heard? They heard the gospel. They heard
that God had sent the Lord Jesus Christ to be a light to the Gentiles,
a savior for the Gentiles. He wasn't just a savior for the
Jews, he was a light of the Gentiles. That thou shouldest be for salvation
unto the ends of the earth, all men, Jew and Gentile. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. and glorified the word of the
Lord. Now notice, and as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed. Who believed? As many as the
Father had given to the Son. As many as were ordained to eternal
life. They believed. Now go back to
our text. So that's the first thing about
all men who are saved. All men who are saved are saved
because of the will of God. And now, you know, I'm preaching
to the choir here, I recognize that. But listen, who's gonna
get the glory? That's what it all boils down
to, isn't it? Who's going to get the glory? And God will not share His glory
with another. And any other so-called plan
of salvation robs God, would rob God of His glory. And it's
a false plan. But here's the second thing.
The all men who are saved are saved because of the ransom price
that was paid, which was the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 6, who
gave himself a ransom for all, the all men. All men, he gave
himself a ransom for all. Now, no one's saved without the
ransom price being paid, and everyone for whom the ransom
was paid will be saved. Now that's just so, or it's not
a ransom. It grieves us, doesn't it, when
we hear people talking about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ
in such a way, maybe they never think about it, but they should.
They present it in such a way that Christ is a failure. If
He ransomed some and they're not saved, then He failed those
people, their particular salvation. That's not true. That's just
not going to happen, is it? Father, I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. So the all men who are saved
are saved because of the ransom price paid. And don't you love
the way Paul said this, who gave himself a ransom. He could have
created hundreds, thousands of worlds, but No matter how wealthy
and rich those worlds may have been, he gave himself. He gave himself as a ransom. Number three, the all men who
are saved are saved because they come unto the knowledge of the
truth. You see that in verse four, who
will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth." In other words, they come to know Christ. He is the truth. They're brought
to know Him, to trust in Him as the way, the truth, and the
life. And this knowledge is not just
intellectual knowledge, is it? It's more than that. It's the
heart, the heart. It's the mind, yes, but the will
and the affections come to know the truth and love the truth.
And here's the last thing, the last question. What is meant
by these words, to be testified in due time, in verse six? It was in this new dispensation,
this new dispensation, that God, who will have all men to be saved,
not just Jews, but Jews and Gentiles, that this message was to be preached
among all nations. That middle wall of partition,
the law which had always separated the Jews from the Gentiles, It's
broken down. And both Jew and Gentile are
on the same footing. There's only one God. No matter
if you're a Jew or Gentile, there's only one God. There's only one
mediator. It doesn't matter if you're Jew
or Gentile. And there's only one ransom,
no matter if you are Jew or Gentile. This message, Paul said, he's
ordained that it be preached. It was hidden, wasn't it? It
was hidden. It was given under Paul to show
how the Jew and Gentile would become one body. That separation
would be gone forever. Paul was ordained to be a teacher
of the Gentiles and Christ commanded this message to be preached in
all the world. to every creature. I pray that
the Lord would bless these words to all of us here this evening
and encourage us to pray. Pray for ourselves, pray for
others, pray for the leaders. And I'm thankful that we live
in such a country where we have this freedom, aren't you? And
I pray that he will preserve it for our children and grandchildren. and their children. Bill, come
and lead us in a closing hymn. We'll just sing a couple