Let us turn again to God's Word
and I want this morning to direct you to words that we find in
the first epistle of Paul to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter
2 and I'll read the first six verses
of the chapter. I'm going to consider for a text
of words at the end of verse 6 here that I'll read the first
six verses in 1 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 So the
words really that I want to concentrate on are those at the end of that
sixth verse, to be testified in due time, or as the margin
says, a testimony in due time. Paul speaks here in some measure
of the great work of the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, One of
those mediatorial offices of the Savior, of course, is that
of the priest, and he is the one who has made the great redeeming
sacrifice, as we read at the beginning of this verse, who
gave himself a ransom for all. He comes to redeem the sinner,
to pay that debt, that the sinner owes to the holy law of God he
himself says in the course of his ministry even the son of
man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give
his life a ransom for many and by paying that ransom price shedding
that precious blood he has satisfied the divine justice of God He
has paid what the holy law demanded. The soul that sinneth it shall
die. The wages of sin is death. As solemn is the consequence
then of man's rebellion against God and all that God is in His
holiness and righteousness and justice. Cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. The transgressors are under the
curse but we're told aren't we Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the Lord being made a curse for us for it is written
cursed is everyone that hangeth on the true earth. He has borne
that curse by the giving of his life, the pouring out of his
soul onto death, the shedding of that precious blood Peter
says, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with
the incorruptible things from your vein, conversation received
by tradition from your father's butt, he says, with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spawns. The mediator then, who he speaks
of so plainly, here in verse 5, is the one who has come as
the priest and paid the ransom price. But then, in his mediatorial
office, another aspect of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
is that of a prophet. And does he not indicate that,
the apostle, by the way in which he continues here in the following
7th verse? He speaks of that that is to
be testified in due time, and then says, 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
that's another aspect then of the ministry that the Lord Jesus
Christ came to perform himself of course he's not only the priest
he's also the prophet and that charge that he gives to his apostles
they are to preach that message that he himself began to proclaim,
and God confirms their preaching with signs and wonders following,
as we read there in the opening verses of the epistle to the
Hebrews. And really this morning I just
want to consider this testimony that is being spoken of, this
word that is to be proclaimed in due time. The theme then I
take up is that of a testimony in due time. Who gave himself
a ransom for all, we read, to be testified in due time. And the language, the words that
are being used by the Apostle are very interesting. The word
that we have here, rendered time, refers to a fixed and very definite
period of time. And The other word that we have,
due time, he says, as reference to its own proper, appropriate
time, as it were. It's a strong statement that
he is making. Then what is this due time, this
proper time, this fixed, definite period of time? Well, it is that
that has come about really as a result of two significant things
first of all the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who has fulfilled
all the work that the Father gave him to do he has accomplished
that great work of redemption and having finished the work
of course he is now exalted raised from the dead and not only raised
from the dead, but ascended on high and entered into His glory. His exaltation, as it were, has
begun. But the other significant thing,
of course, is that one who is the exalted Christ is the one
who has also shed forth the Holy Ghost. And it is the Spirit of God Himself
who makes that Word that is to be proclaimed and preached So,
effectively the souls of sinners. These are the two things that
I want us to consider for a while this morning. The exaltation
of Christ in that due time. Here is that that is to be testified,
a testimony in due time. And now, we see the significance
of God's timing throughout the All of the ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ is birth. It's when the fullness of the
time was come that God sent forth His Son, made of a woman and
made under the law. And as we said on previous occasions,
that is a strong statement there in Galatians 4.4. I've often misquoted those words,
and simply said, when the fullness of time was come. But he doesn't
say that. There are two definite articles. When THE fullness of THE time
was come. A time that was appointed, ordained,
in the purposes of God from all eternity. And that time, at its
accomplishment, just as God himself had decreed, when the Virgin
Mary conceived in her womb that Holy Thing that was to be brought
forth there at Bethlehem in Judea when the fullness of the time
was come God sent forth His Son made of a woman and then we're
told aren't we throughout the life of the Lord Jesus that He
could only die at that time that God Himself had appointed there
were occasions when the Jews would have seized him and killed
him both in John 7.30 and John 8.22 there was an opportunity
it seemed that they could be rid of this man who was such
a trouble to them how the scribes and the Pharisees so hated him
but they could do nothing against him. His hour was not yet come,
it says. His hour was not yet come. But then when the time was come
that he should be received up, we're told in Luke's account,
Luke 9.51, how he set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem. All for him there was a time
to be born and there was a time to die. how he was delivered up, you
see, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Peter
reminds those Jews at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost there
in Acts 2, for they had taken him, yes they were culpable with
wicked hands, they had crucified and they had slain the Lord of
glory, but he was all under the sovereignty of God, delivered
up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, he
says. He had taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain
and this is the message that is to be proclaimed as we see in the context as I
said already that following verse to be testified in due time says
the apostle where unto 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 in verity. And Paul of course is here very
mindful of the fact that his ministry is not just to the Jew
but to the Gentile. I read that passage in Ephesians
2 and 3 because he brings out in those verses that we were
reading the significance of the calling of the Gentiles, that
mystery that was hid with God but was to be revealed. We read
there from Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11 right the way through
into chapter 3 and the passage really runs from that 11th verse
in the second chapter to verse 12 of chapter 3 and the whole
passage is really declaring in a much fuller sense the same
truth that we have here at the end of verse 6 and in the 7th
verse. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
himself in a sense who came says Paul and preached to you, to
you Gentiles which were afar off and to them, the Jews who
were nigh. But That doesn't come to pass
until after the Lord has accomplished His great work. We know that
during the course of His ministry here upon the earth, the Lord
was very mindful that He was sent to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. He says as much. In Matthew 15,
24, I am not sent, He says, but unto the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. And when He sends forth the twelve
apostles He sends them forth there in Matthew chapter 10 and
he tells them not to go into the way of the Gentiles. They
are to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But when
the Lord has fulfilled all that work that the Father has committed
to Him in the eternal covenant it is clear, it is evident that
that message is to go out to Gentiles as well as Jews, and
that's the emphasis that's being made here. The language that
is used, we're told in verse 4, aren't we, concerning God
our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto
the knowledge of the truth. Who are the all men? Well it's
not every single man and woman that's ever been born into this
world. There are those who are the election
of Christ. There are others passed over,
the reprobates. The Lord Jesus Christ has not
died for all and yet it says in verse 6 who gave himself a
ransom for all. He did not give himself for the
goats. He died only for the sheep. the Apostle is doing here is
reminding Timothy that this Gospel is for all in the sense that
it's not just for the Jew, it's for the Gentile also. And isn't
Paul that man who is called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles?
The words that were spoken to Ananias back in Acts chapter
9. Remember the account there that
we have about This man Saul of Tarsus is arrested by the Lord
Jesus at the very gate of Damascus. He has gone there. His intent
is to destroy all those who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he's a man troubled in his conscience. He's kicking against
the pricks and goads of his conscience. And the Lord arrests him. And
he's blinded. He's led into the city. And one,
a disciple of Christ, Ananias, is told to go to that street
called Straight, that he might anoint this man, this man's eyes,
that he might see. And what is the significance?
Well, this man is that one who is the chosen vessel, says the
Lord, the chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the
Gentiles. That is Paul's ministry. He says
to the Galatians that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed
unto Mary as the gospel of the circumcision was committed unto
Peter. And so here is a message that
is to be proclaimed, testified in due time. and that time, that
appropriate time that proper time is when the Lord Jesus Christ
has accomplished all his great work risen from the dead ascended
on high and this gospel now is to go out into all the world
and this man Paul is such an instrument in the hands of the
glorified Christ as he says Here in the opening chapter,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our
Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Again at verse
12 there he says, I thank God, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord,
who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry. Well this is his ministry there.
to proclaim the Lord Jesus and his determination time and again
as he says to those Corinthians I determine not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified but as there was
to be and there must still be that proclamation of this great
message of the gospel it's not just the exalting of the Lord
Jesus Christ that is necessary to but also that gracious outpouring
of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And how vital is
the Spirit if that preaching of the Gospel is to be effectual?
How can the Gospel become efficacious without the working of the Spirit? We're told, aren't we, that this,
as the margin renders it, is a a testimony in due time but
remember how when the Lord Jesus Christ himself is speaking to
his apostles of the gift of the Holy Spirit he speaks of the
Spirit as that one who comes to testify of him in John 15
26 when the Comforter is come says Christ that's the The word
that he continually uses in reference to the Holy Ghost in those chapters
in John, those familiar chapters 14, 15 and 16. The word Paraclete,
that one who comes alongside. When the Comforter is come, whom
I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth,
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me, says
Christ. he shall testify of myrrh something to be testified in
due time and who is the one who bears the testament ultimately
it must be the Holy Ghost and we're told aren't we in that
seventh chapter of John's gospel where Christ is there teaching
in the temple on the great day, the Feast of the Tabernacles
and he speaks of the coming of the Spirit and then that remark
is made by John under the inspiration of the Spirit himself of course,
the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. How Christ's accomplishment of
his work and his own exaltation, his glorification is associated
with that blessed coming of the Spirit. He was not yet given.
He was there, of course, previously. He was there in the Old Testament. David, in all the agonies of
his soul after his great sins, cries out in Psalm 51, Take not
thy Holy Spirit from me. All who were saved in the Old
Testament were saved as any man or woman is saved in her day.
Born again of the Spirit of God. He must be born again. But there
was such a glorious coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Because now this message, this
gospel is to go out into all the world. It's to go to Gentile
sinners as well as Jerusalem sinners. The Holy Ghost was not
yet given then says John there in in that seventh chapter of
the gospel because Jesus was not yet glorified but then what
does Peter say on the day of Pentecost concerning Christ being
by the right hand of God exalted having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which
ye now see and hear and then Remember how in that sermon in
many ways the text that the Apostle Peter is expounding is what we
have at the end of Joel chapter 2. There in the closing verses
of that prophetic book from verse 28 through to the end the Prophet
speaks of afterwards. He says afterwards And it's interesting
to see how that, in a sense, Peter doesn't just quote from
Joel, but he interprets Joel, he explains what afterward really
means. As he begins to quote the passage
there in Acts 2.17, it shall come to pass, he doesn't say
afterward, but he says in the last days. which shall come to
pass in the last day, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit
upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams." He uses, of course, Old Testament
terminology. He's quoting from Joel. But he's
speaking of that that is taking place there and then. That is
the beginning, really, of that that is referred to as the last
days. And it's that day, of course,
in which we are now living. That that the Apostle speaks
of in 2 Corinthians 6, I have heard thee in a time accepted,
and in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold, now,
now is the day of salvation, says the Apostle. all the last
days, ushered in then by the exaltation of Christ and the
gift of the Holy Spirit is being poured out there on the day of
Pentecost and there in Jerusalem there's not only Jerusalem sinners,
there's not only Jews but there's also those who are proselytes,
converts to the Jewish faith from all regions of the of the
Roman Empire and even further afield and then of course subsequent
to that we have as it were a second Pentecost in the 10th chapter
of Acts where we read of Peter a guy exercising the authority
of the keys He does it first in Acts chapter 2 to the Jews
and the Jewish proselytes, but then in chapter 10 we see him
in the house of Cornelius. And he's preaching this gospel
and the gospel is now clearly coming to Gentile sinners. Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, the uttermost ends of the earth. We're told,
aren't we, that at the end of that 10th chapter, while Peter
yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which
heard the words. And they of the circumcision
which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter. Because
that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy
Ghost, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Oh, that gracious outpouring
there. We're living in that day, that
dispensation of the Holy Ghost. Favoured people we are. We often
bemoan the day. It's a wicked day. We live in
the midst of a perverse generation. But it's still the day of the
Holy Ghost. And what does He do when He comes? He comes to
reprieve sinners. he comes to convince sinners
Christ says as much there in John 16 when he has come he will
reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment
of sin because I believe not on birth of righteousness because
I go to my father and he see me no more of judgment because
the prince of this world is judged he still does that great work
he'll convince of unbelief but he'll also convince of righteousness
there is a righteousness for sinners in the presence of God
where the Lord Jesus Christ is and Satan that great adversary
is judged when we come you see to work that conviction in the
soul of the sinner often think of those words he
convinces of sin because they believe not on me or that sin
of unbelief that sin which so easily besets us we are truly
the children of Adam and Eve what was their sin there in the
garden of Eden unbelief they rejected God's truth and they
embraced the devil's lie and that's our nature that's the
natures of all men. What a wonder it is that any
should ever believe the truth again. Why is it so? Because
of that blessed work of the Spirit. Now we need the Spirit of God
then. When we read the Word of God, when we hear the Word of
God being preached. But He doesn't just come to reprove
and to convince sinners, does He? No, Christ says He shall
glorify and burn. He shall glorify me. He shall
take of mine and show it unto you. What a blessed work it is
that the Spirit does when He reveals the Lord Jesus Christ
to the sinners. He shall not speak of Himself
as God. His ministry is so self-effacing
and yet He is God. He is equal to the Father. He is equal to the Son. There's
no superiority and inferiority in
the doctrine of God, in the doctrine of the Trinitary. Father, Son and Holy Ghost. One God. Co-eternal, co-equal. And yet when the Spirit comes,
He comes to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, to take of the things
of Christ. and reveal them to sinners. I want us to consider
a little more closely then this due time that is being spoken
of and the work of the Spirit in this day in which we're living. We, as I've said, have so much
more detail concerning the Spirit's work in such a day as this in
the passage that we were reading in Ephesians chapter 3 there
Paul unfolds the mystery that is being revealed under the gospel
it's the eternal mystery which was hidden in God he says remember
the words that we have in the opening part of that third chapter
of Ephesians for this cause I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ,
for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of
the grace of God which he has given me to you all, and that
by revelation ye may know unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore,
in few words, whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge
in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known
unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs,
and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the
Gospel." This is the message, you see, that he is to take to
the Gentiles, the calling of the Gentiles, a mystery that
was from all eternity hidden, not revealed. But then in due
time what a revelation we have. And yet, in a sense, that mystery
of the calling of the Gentiles is far greater than that calling. Really, in a sense, the whole
dispensation of the Gospel, the day in which we're living, this
dispensation of the Holy Ghost. What a mystery is that! What
a mystery is that! It doesn't fall to refer to ministers
as stewards of the mysteries of God. In 1 Corinthians chapter
4 and verse 1. He speaks of ministers of the gospel as stewards
of the mysteries of God. How are they stewards of the
mysteries of God? In the sense that they are to
unfold something of the manner in which the Spirit works. They
are to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery.
men have to be brought into the fellowship, the communion of
that mystery as he says there in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
9 but previous to that in the second verse of that third chapter
he speaks of the dispensation of the grace of God and that's
another way of explaining what the fellowship of the mystery
is. The fellowship of the mystery is the dispensation of the grace
of God. And the word that he uses, the
dispensation, has that idea of management, administration, stewardship. The way in which God dispenses
His grace. That's the mystery. As well as
the calling of the Gentiles. That's an interesting doxology
that we have at the end of the epistle to the Romans. Paul often closes his various
epistles with a doxology. We're all familiar, of course,
with that at the end of 2 Corinthians. We use it repeatedly at the close
of a service. But at the end of Romans we have
this, now to him. that is a power to establish
you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ
according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret
since the world began but now is made manifest and by the scriptures
of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting
God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith to
God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. So here is the doxology
in which Paul refers to that mystery. But look at what he
actually says in that 25th verse because the various clauses help
us to understand what the mystery is all about. He speaks of the the power of the gospel to him
that is of power to establish you according to my gospel he
says and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation
of the mystery here we have the gospel and the power of the gospel
and the preaching of Jesus Christ and the revealing of the mystery
and those various clauses help us to understand just what the
mystery is all about. It's not just calling of Gentiles,
it's more than that. It's the dispensation of the
grace of God. And so in the preaching of the
Gospel there should be something of the tracing out of the ways
in which the Spirit of God works in the souls of sinners. The operations of the Holy Ghost
upon the soul of a man, bringing that person to the saving knowledge
of the Lord Jesus. And I would contend that that's
one of the great beauties, really, in the sermons of a man like
J.C. Philpott. When his sermons were
first published, they were published under the title of the Gospel
Pulpit. the gospel pulpit, and it was
very much a gospel ministry. But the peculiarity of that man's
preaching is the way in which he is able to trace out something
of the ways in which the spirit works in the soul of the sinner. And I think of those words again
of Paul writing in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 13, he says which
things also we speak not in words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. Here is Paul's preaching you
see, the way he speaks, and in the course of his ministry he's
trying to compare spiritual things with spiritual things. And the
word that we have rendered, comparing spiritual things, with spiritual
things. The word comparing is the Greek
word from which our English words synchronize, is derived. The word is synchrina in the
Greek. And of course we have the word
synchronize. The synchronizing, as it were,
of God's Word, God's Word in Scripture, is to be synchronized
with God's works in the soul of the sinner. There's a connection
between each of these things. The Kingdom of God is within
you, says the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an inward work of the Spirit.
And so the psalmist can say, come and hear all ye that fear
God and I will declare what the Lord hath done for my soul. The Gospel concerns the souls
of men and the way in which God's Word affects the souls of men.
And remember what Paul himself says concerning his own experience
when he comes to salvation. How was it that he came to believe?
When he pleased God, he says, who separated me from my mother's
womb to reveal Jesus Christ in me. There's something going on
in the soul of the man. And this is part of the gracious work of
the Spirit in this remarkable day in which we're living. The
blessed administration of the Spirit of God as He makes real
in the souls of sinners that great work that the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished. He gave Himself a ransom for
all to be testified, for a testimony in due time. And isn't that due
time now and can we not recognize that? That's a great verse that
we have in the Psalms, Psalm 102 verse 13, Thou shalt arise
and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favor her, yea the
set time is gone. All God has set times. Times
of favor, times of blessing. And what are we to do surely
we should plead with God that those set times might be known
in our own souls that we might know such gracious visitations
of God upon our hearts, reviving us, refreshing us granting new
discoveries of Himself a testimony you know I thought
of that and I thought I must look the word up, I'm pretty
sure This word that's translated as testimony is the word from
which we get our English word martyr and it is. It is. And you think of the testimony
of the martyrs. Think of the testimony of the
martyrs at the time of the Protestant Reformation. How they sealed
their testimony with blood. and their lives were taken. Oh,
surely, if we know anything of the grace of God, we should be
those who are also ready to bear testimony. We have that exhortation
in Peter's epistle to be sanctified. He says, sanctify the Lord God
in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you of the reason of the hope that is within you
with meekness and with fear or with those who are ready to bear
that testimony to give an answer to every man that asks us of
that hope that is within us that work of the Spirit of God upon
our souls we want to bear testimony to all that God has done even
in our poor hearts and to do it without fear not
fearing men but fearing God doing so with all humility and all
meekness Oh God grant then that we might in some measure enter
into what the Apostle is declaring here in this short text the gospel
to be testified who gave himself that's the Lord Jesus the great
mediator spoken of in verse 5 the one mediator who gave himself
a ransom for all to be testified in due time might that time be
something that we ourselves know in our souls experience the Lord
then blessed this word to us today We're going to sing as our closing praise the hymn
number 26, the tune is Saxby 409. Eternal Spirit, we confess
and sing the wonders of thy grace. Thy power conveys our blessings
down from God the Father and the Son. The hymn number 26,
tune 409.