Well, let us turn again to God's
Word in that portion that we've been considering over the last
few weeks in 1st Timothy, 1st Epistle of Paul to Timothy, chapter
2, and I'll read verses 5, 6, and 7. 1 Timothy 2 verses 5, 6 and 7. 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. Remember, when we started to
consider the content of this chapter, we observed Paul is
very much speaking of prayer. We see that clearly in the opening
verses, 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. And then he goes on at verse
8, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy
hands without wrath and doubting. But as he speaks of prayer and
sets before us the importance of prayer and prayer for those
in authority that government is God's own ordinance and we
are bidded of course to pray for those who have that solemn
responsibility and are ultimately accountable to God. We're not to despise dominions
or to speak ill of government but we're to pray This is what
Paul is saying then as he gives this instruction to young Timothy
in this pastoral epistle. Speaking of prayer, the apostle
then goes on to speak of Christ as the mediator and his mediatorial
offices. As a mediator, he is a priest
and part of his priestly office is that he ever lives to make
intercession for all that would come unto God. We come by and
through the Lord Jesus in our prayers. We look to him now as
that one who has entered into that within the veil is in heaven
and there he appears before God as the high priest of his people.
But as a high priest, of course, redemption is also one part of
that great work that the Lord has undertaken. And we were considering
that last week. Remember the words, verse 5,
we're told, there is one God and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus. And then we looked last time
at those words at the beginning of verse 6, who gave himself
a ransom for all. who gave himself a ransom for
all. Redemption is one of the great
works of Christ the High Priest. How in that work he has satisfied
divine justice, he has paid the ransom price that was demanded
by the holy law of God. That is the one to whom the ransom
has been paid. He has honoured, he has magnified
God's law in all its holy precepts by the obedience of that sinless
life that he lived, but also honoured and magnified it in
terms of all its dreadful penalties, by suffering, by bleeding, by
dying upon the cross. What does the law say? Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. The curse is upon the transgressor. And what a curse it is, the soul
that sinneth, it shall die. The wages of sin is death. That is what God's law demands. It demands that satisfaction.
And Christ hath redeemed us, we are told, redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. How he has died, how
he has shed that precious blood without the shedding of blood.
The law said there is no remission, no forgiveness of sins. But Christ
is the one who has redeemed his people. And how was he redeemed? Now Peter says, for as much as
ye know that ye were not redeemed by corruptible things such as
silver and gold from your vein, conversation received by tradition
from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot. And so we were
thinking last time of Christ in this aspect of his mediatorial
office. He is the one mediator who gave
himself a ransom for all. And as I said, and laid some
emphasis upon last time, that expression for all, the word
for literally means in the place of, instead of. But who does
all refer to? Well, he doesn't refer to every
individual that has ever lived on the face of the earth, because
when Christ died there were those from the Old Testament, the ungodly,
the irreligious, the wicked men, such as Cain who killed Abel,
and so many others, and they then had gone to their appointed
place. Christ didn't die for them. No, the word all as is
evident in the context means all sorts, all types, all conditions,
all classes of men just as prayer is to be made for all sorts of
men there in verse 1 and then in verse 2 for kings and all
that are in authority we are to pray for all types of men
and the Lord Jesus Christ has come and suffered and bled and
died for all sorts of men but all those for whom Christ died
are those that were given to him in the eternal covenant by
the Father and he is of course the mediator of that covenant
but besides seeing Christ as a priest we have to remember
that he is also a prophet as a mediator that's another of
his offices he is the great prophet And it's that that I want to
touch on really tonight as we look at what follows here in
verse 6 and then in verse 7. He gave himself a ransom for
all, it says, 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. And the theme, really, is what
we have there in verse 6. You'll see in the margin, instead
of to be testified, we have this alternative reading, a testimony. A testimony in due time. And that's a theme, really, that
I want to take up. What are we to understand by
a testimony in due time? What is that testimony? to be
testified and it is the gospel it is the gospel and it is the
dispensation of the gospel that is being spoken of look at what
it says it says it is to be testified it's a testimony in due time
now In the original, here in the New Testament, there are
two Greek words that are rendered time. The one word is that from
which we obtain our English words such as a chronometer, a timepiece,
a clock, a watch is a chronometer, it measures time. And also we're
familiar with the word chronology, Historically, we can think of
events taking place in a sort of chronological order. That
word time, then, has the idea of sequences. We think of time
in terms of sequences, events happening one after the other.
We divide time into minutes, and hours, and days, and weeks,
and months, and years. There's that idea of time. But
that's not the word. That's not the word that you
see. It's a different word that's being used. And this word time
has the idea of a fixed point, a definite period of time, a
specific period of time. And the word due also is an interesting
word because it has a basic meaning of proper and appropriate. So what we have here In that
expression, due time is the idea of a specific period of time
which is the proper and the appropriate period of time. And that is what
we term the dispensation of the gospel. The day of the gospel. It's something that was ordained
from all eternity in the great purposes of God. And here, you
see, we have this testimony, which is to be testified, it
says, in due time. And when we think of the Gospel,
now we see that it begins at a specific period in time. We often quote those words in
Galatians 4 and verse 4 concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus.
It says, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law." And down there
it is so evident that a particular period is being spoken of because
we have the definite article twice. It speaks of the fullness,
the fullness of the time. Or the birth of the Lord Jesus.
was that that was ordained from eternity, and he came at that
precise moment that God had always intended, having ordained it
from before the foundation of the world. And then when we consider
the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we come to the end of that
life of the Lord Jesus Christ, remember there are occasions
in the Gospel I think of language that we would find, for example,
in John 7, verse 30, and John 8, 20, when the Jews would have
stoned him. But it simply says, his hour
was not yet come. His hour was not yet come. So, though they would have stoned
him, they so hated him, and they wanted to be rid of him, they
couldn't lay a finger against him, because his hour was not
yet come. But what do we read in Luke 9,
verse 51, when the time was come that he should be received up,
he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He knew that
the time was come now, when he was going to make that great
sacrifice, and of course, it was going to be a voluntary sacrifice.
No man was able to take that life from him. He was the one
who had power, he had authority to lay that life down, and he
had power to take it again. That was the commandment that
the Father had given to him in the Eternal Covenant. And so
he knew. All he knew just when he must die. Think of the language
there in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 to everything there is a season
a time to every purpose under heaven a time to be born and
a time to die that's true of all but how true that is with
regards to the Lord Jesus and his life here upon the earth
when he comes to his death you see as with his birth it was
all in accordance with God's purpose and how Peter makes that
claim in his preaching on the day of Pentecost. He speaks about
how the Lord Jesus was delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was by God's determinate counsel. Oh yes, he reminds the Jews there
in Jerusalem at that time, He had taken them with wicked hands
and crucified and slain. They were culpable. They were
culpable, they were guilty of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but it was all in accordance with God's eternal purpose, that
blood shedding. Again, the language of Peter,
where he speaks there in that first epistle of the Lord Jesus,
verily foreordained, he says, before the foundation of the
world, but manifest in these last times for you. It was all in the purpose of
God. And this, this is what Paul is
speaking of here, this testimony, when he uses this expression,
to be testified in due time. And how was it testified? What is the testimony? Well,
it's the proclamation, it's the preaching of the gospel. When
the Lord Jesus Christ comes, we see him quite clearly as one
who is not only a priest who's going to make a sacrifice, as
he does at the end of his ministry, but previous to that we see him
very much in his office as a prophet, a preacher. He's that one, of
course, that was spoken of in Deuteronomy by Moses, how the
Lord would raise up to Israel a prophet like unto Moses. But
he was greater than Moses, because the law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And so we have the record
in the Gospels of the Lord's ministry. We have the record of course
of the Sermon on the Mount and other aspects of the Lord's preaching
and teaching. And how the Lord makes it quite
clear during the course of his own earthly ministry that that
prophetic office is being exercised in terms of the children of Israel. I am not sent, he says, but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then the Lord, He
chooses His twelve apostles and He sends them out to preach. And we see where He sends them
there in Matthew chapter 10. We have the name of the apostles.
Verse 2, following, and then he says this, which says at verse
5, These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go
not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans
enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And as ye go, preach saying, The kingdom of heaven
is at hand, and so forth. He himself is sent, he says,
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. His ministry is very
much confined to that land of Palestine and the regions round
about. He doesn't go to the Gentiles. Or he goes to Galilee, which
is on the borders of the Gentiles. Much of his ministry is there,
but he is sent as he sends his own disciples to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. But what Paul is saying here,
as he's writing to Timothy, is that now this gospel, this testimony,
is also to go to the Gentiles. He speaks of it being testified
in due time, and then he 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. Now, I read that passage in Ephesians,
Ephesians 2 from verse 11 right through to verse 12 in chapter
3 because in many ways it's a much fuller statement and account
of the point that the Apostle is making here in verse 7. What do we read there? Let's
turn back for a while to Ephesians And there in chapter 2, where
we commenced our reading, he says this, verse 11, Wherefore
remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who
are called on circumcision by that which is the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, the Jews, that at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world. But then he makes a very interesting
statement as he speaks of the Lord Jesus. In verse 17 he speaks of how
he came and preached peace to you which were afar off, the
uncircumcision, the Gentiles, and to them that were nigh, the
circumcised, the Jews. He came and preached peace to
you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh, for through
him we both, that is Jew and Gentile, have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. Now, How was it that the Lord
Jesus Christ exercised his prophetic office towards the Gentiles?
When he was here upon the earth, his preaching was very much to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And when he sends out
his apostles, he sends them also to the Jews. But after he has
accomplished his great work, after his death, his resurrection,
his ascension, of course the gospel is to go to the ends of
the world. And we see the Lord exercising
his prophetic office, as it were, now by the apostles. And by this
man Paul in particular. Paul is given that charge to
be the great apostle to the Gentiles. As he says here, whereunto I
am ordained a preacher and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles
in faith and in verity." And so, that's really the whole subject
matter that is covered in that portion of scripture that we
read there at the end of Ephesians 2 and through into Ephesians
chapter 3. And it was through that preaching
that they actually, those Ephesians, were hearing the voice of Christ. Remember Ephesians 4.20, Paul
says to them, You have not so learned Christ, if so be ye have
heard him, and been taught by him. as the truth is in Jesus. They heard the truth, they heard
the voice of Christ, they heard it through the preaching. How
could they hear the voice of Christ through the preaching
of a man? Because this dispensation of the gospel is very much associated
with the blessed outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What is the gospel? It is testified
by the Holy Spirit. This one who gave himself a ransom
for all to be testified in due time? In the appointed time? A testimony in the appointed
time? Who is the one who bears testimony
to the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't that the ministry of the
Holy Spirit? Remember how the Lord speaks
of him? There in John chapter 3, those familiar discourses,
the end of his life, his valedictory discourses, we call them in chapters
14 and 15 and 16, where he speaks much of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. And he says this, 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." Or the Spirit, you see, testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ,
testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ in the due time. Remember again
what we're told in John chapter 7 where the Lord is there in
the temple teaching It's the Feast of Tabernacles
and he speaks of the Holy Ghost but John makes that remark there
in John 7.39 that the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus
was not yet glorified. Strange words in some ways. The
Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Well, surely we might say the
Holy Ghost is there in the Old Testament, is there in the creation.
Creation is the work of God the Father, God the Son and God the
Holy Spirit. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, all the host of them by the breath of His
mouth. The word is Christ. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
By the Word of the Lord. And by the breath or the Spirit
of His mouth. The Spirit is there upon the
waters. As we read the account of creation
in Genesis chapter 1. The Holy Spirit is there in the
Old Testament. All those who are saved, they
are saved because they are born again by the Spirit of God. There
was ever only one way of salvation, both in the Old Testament and
the New Testament. And remember how David, under
terrible conviction of sin because of his sin, his great sins, he
was guilty, was he not, of adultery and murder. And he cries out
in Psalm 51, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. The Holy Spirit
is there. And yet, John makes that remark
there in his Gospel, in chapter 7, and he says, the Holy Ghost
was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Surely
we're to understand it in the sense that there was going to
be such a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. After Christ
had come and accomplished His great work, those in the Old
Testament were looking forward to the coming of Christ. but
they would also look forward to that blessed glorious effusion
of the Spirit and when Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost
what does he declare? He speaks of Christ being by
the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost He has shed forth this which
ye now see and hear It is Christ who pours out his blessed spirit
and he pours out the spirit as that one who will bear testimony
to himself. And it's interesting that as
there is that outpouring upon the Jews and the Jewish proselytes
on the day of Pentecost so later in Acts chapter 10 We see Peter
again now in the house of Cornelius, the centurion. And what does he do? He preaches again there before
those Gentiles and we're told in Acts chapter 10 verse 44, While Peter yet spake
these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished.
And as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles
also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost." There is then in the Acts those
two outpourings, as it were. And what does the Spirit come
as? He comes as the Spirit of Christ.
Oh, He comes to convince men. He comes to reprove me. That's how the Lord speaks of
His ministry there in John. When He has come, He will reprove
or convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to the Father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because
the Prince of this world is judged. There's a convicting ministry
of the Spirit But Christ also speaks of Him as that One who
comes to reveal the Saviour. He comes very much as the Comforter.
Again, the Lord there in John 16, 14 says of the Spirit, He
shall glorify me, for He shall take of mine and shall show it
unto you. Or no man can say that Jesus
Christ is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Ultimately, He is that
One who bears the testimony in due time. The testimony in due
time. And so, to move on and say something more
particular with regard to this administration of the Holy Spirit. And how is it that the Spirit
bears his testimony. Well, it's what Paul goes on
to say in verse 7, "...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 in faith
and truth." And as I said, really we have a much fuller account
of these things back in Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 3 for example
look at what Paul says we read the words for this cause I Paul
the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles it's one of
the prison epistles Ephesians it's when Paul is at the end
of Acts Now in Rome, and he's under some form of arrest, he
doesn't seem to be actually in a prison, but he's under some
sort of house arrest, he's not a free man, and he writes these
various epistles to certain churches, Galatians and Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, they're all what they call his prison letters. For this cause I call the prisoner
of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God which is given me to you all, know that
by revelation he made known 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. Whereof I was made a minister."
He is very much the apostle to the Gentiles, this
man. And what we see in that passage is how he speaks of the
calling of the Gentiles. That's the mystery that was hidden
in the eternal purposes of God, but is now revealed. You see,
it's revealed in due time. As we see here at the end of
verse 6, it's testified in due time. And we might say in a sense
this mystery is really greater than the calling of the Gentiles. It is that, and that's what he's
very much speaking of, but the whole dispensation of the gospel,
the whole dispensation of the gospel, the day in which we're
living, is that great mystery that God has revealed in the
last days. And if you turn to the end of
the epistle to the Romans, and we've often said that Romans
is a great gospel epistle, Romans is full of gospel. It's a wonderful
book, of course, that deals with that great gospel doctrine of
justification. And there, right at the end of
Romans, chapter 16 and verse 25, we have
a sort of doxology 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."
It's a great doxology of praise with which he concludes this
epistle. But see what he is doing. He,
in some ways, he's defining what the gospel is. He refers to my
gospel. My gospel, the gospel that Paul
preached. And what is that gospel? He calls
it the preaching of Jesus Christ. That was a great thing. We preached
Christ and Him crucified. It was He was altogether Christocentric. That was the only message that
he wanted to proclaim. Christ, the person of Christ,
crucified, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. My gospel, the
preaching of Jesus Christ, and then he calls it the revelation
of the mystery. He's defining all the time what
it is that he is preaching. And interestingly, when he writes
in 1 Corinthians 4, he speaks of ministers of Christ and calls
them stewards of the mysteries of God. The ministers of Christ
are stewards of the mysteries of God. What does he mean? Why does he
call the ministry of the Word, the ministry of the Gospel, why
does he refer to it in those terms, stewards of the mysteries,
the mysteries of God? Because of that spiritual effect
that the Gospel has upon men. What is the purpose of the preaching
of the Gospel? When he says there in Ephesians
3 and verse 9, it's to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery. That's the purpose of the gospel,
that men might see what is the fellowship of the mystery. They're brought into fellowship
with this mystery. He calls it also there in Ephesians
3 verse 2, the dispensation of the mystery. It's the fellowship
and it's also the dispensation. Now, the word that he uses there,
in Ephesians 3.2, dispensation, literally means the stewardship,
or the management, the administration, the administration of the mystery. He's speaking of the gospel,
remember? He calls the gospel a mystery, and it's that that
has to be managed, and has to be administered, And what is it? What is it? Well, the Gospel, when it's properly
preached, involves that tracing out of the mysterious workings
of the Spirit of God in the soul of the sinner. That's to be part
and parcel of the ministry of the gospel. To trace out the
way in which the Spirit comes and works so mightily and so
effectually in the hearts of men. Now that's what we call
experimental preaching. Experimental preaching, which
is often bandied about in some churches, they say we love experimental
preaching and often They can't define what they mean by experimental
preaching, but it seems to me at least, beholding it, that
what they mean is, I like it when the minister will talk about
himself, and probably speak lots of anecdotes about himself and
his own experiences, but that's not what real experimental preaching
is. I think, in many ways, the finest
example of experimental preaching is to be found in something like
the sermons of Mr. Philpott, Gospel Pulpit. If you
read those sermons you'll see how he does time and again trace
out the way in which God's Spirit works in the soul of the sinner. And one reads them and one can
often find comfort in them because they relate to the experience. That's the beauty of experimental
preaching, it is that tracing out. that mysterious working
of the spirit when he brings life into the soul that is dead
in trespasses and in sins. And see how Paul speaks in 1
Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 13. He says this concerning his
own ministry, which things also we speak, not in the words which
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. He's speaking of his ministry,
he's preaching, and he doesn't follow the wisdom of the world. When he writes to the Corinthians,
he makes it quite plain. He doesn't use all the tricks
of rhetoric. None of that. That was the practice
of the Greeks and their great eloquence. But Paul was no eloquent
man. He acknowledges that. But what
he says there is interesting. because he speaks of comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. Comparing. The word there literally
means to coordinate, to combine. It's similar to our word synchronize. You see, there's a connection
between God's Word, as we have it here in Holy Scripture, and
the way in which God works in the soul. How does God work?
He works by His Spirit in His Word. Doesn't James speak of
the necessity of us, with meekness, receiving the engrafted Word
that's able to save our souls? The Word that's on the page of
Scripture, it needs to be engrafted or implanted in our souls. If
it's going to do us any good, there's got to be that gracious
application, and that comes by the work of the Blessed Spirit
of God Himself. There's a connection. between
God's words and God's work. Look at Peter, 1 Peter 1.23,
being born again, he says, "...not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." Oh, God
makes use of His Word. And we're to bring all of our
lives to that test, are we not, of His Word? We test our experiences,
where? By the Word of God. It's always
to the Lord, to the Testament. Everything has to be rooted in
Scripture, because God makes use of His blessed Word. And
as we come together, surely tonight we're concerned to pray. As I
said at the outset, this chapter is so much taken up with the
matter of prayer, and we need to plead with God that He would
work, and work in the hearts of men, that great mystery of
the Gospel. Or the psalmist instructs us,
Psalm 102 verse 13, Thou shalt arise, says the psalmist, and
have mercy upon Zion, for the time to favor her, yea, the said
time is come. Or there is a time to favor her,
the said time, the due time. as we have it here at the end
of verse 6. And that's the day in which we're living in spite
of all that goes on, and all that we see around us, and much
to distress us, even to depress us, I suppose, when we think
of what's happened over the past, what, 15 months or more it seems
now. And where will it all end? Well,
surely we need to remember what the Apostle says again to the
Corinthians. To Corinthians 6.2 he says, I
have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation of
Isochit. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. What a privileged and blessed
people we are then, that this time has come of which the Apostle
speaks so markedly in the words before us tonight concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ and His great work, that ransom price
that He has paid, or He has made a great sin-atoning sacrifice
for His people, to be testified, a testimony, 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. May the Lord be pleased to bless
to us His word.