1 Timothy, chapter 2. 1 Timothy, chapter 2, and I don't have a title for
the message, but I guess if I had one, it would be, The God Who
Will Save All Men. A God who will save all men. Look at this in verse, we can
read chapter two, let's begin in verse one. The apostle says,
I exhort therefore that first of all supplication, prayers,
intercession, 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. Amen. Amen. Now there are many false teachers
that have gone out in our day into the world who would use
such scriptures, such blessed scriptures as this, to teach
the lie of universal atonement. This is done by their use of
the words in our text, all men. Our God and Savior who will have
all men to be saved. By this they mean every man without
exception. And there are many other verses
of scriptures that use this phrase, all men, in regards to salvation. Let's look at a couple of those.
Just flip over a couple of pages. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4.
and verse 10. It says, For therefore we both
labor and suffer reproach, because we would trust in the living
God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that
believe. Go to Titus chapter 2. A few
more pages over. Titus chapter 2 and verse 11. The scripture says, for the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9. But we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man." And lastly, in 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter
3, 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9, The Scripture says, "...the Lord
is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance." Now you get the picture here.
The Scriptures are very clear. It does use this phrase, "...all
men," or every man, The other phrase that false teachers would
use to spew out the lie of universal atonement is John 3.16. We know
that. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. In 1 John chapter 2. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse
2 it says, And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now these men teach that God's
love is universally given to all men without exception, and
that Jesus came into the world to save all men, to give His
life on the cross for all men without exception. And now that
the Holy Spirit, they say, is sent in to plead with men, to
plead with men, to accept Jesus as their Savior by their own
free will. And then the salvation Jesus
bought for them will be effectual to them if they will just exercise
their free will. Now this sounds good to the natural
man. This sounds reasonable to the
natural man. And this is why the world receives
this as a universal truth. You just ask anyone about free
will. It's a universally accepted truth
that man has a free will. Go ask them. They'll tell you.
The problem with it is it's not true. That's a problem. That's
a problem. The problem is that it's not
true. This idea that God has purposed,
planned, to save all men without exception is not the truth, but
rather, this is the religion of Cain. The religion of Cain. Jude talks about these men. In
Jude, That small letter before Revelation, he says this about
them, "...for certain men have crept in unawares who were before
ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace
of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and
our Lord Jesus Christ." He calls them filthy dreamers. He says,
"...Woe unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain and ran
greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward." and perished in
the gainsaying of Korah. I've told you this before. There
are only two religions in this world. Works and grace. Works and grace. There is the religion of Cain
and there is the religion of Abel. Abel's religion was one
of grace. In other words, Abel brought
a sacrifice. He brought a blood offering for
his sins. The forgiveness of Abel's sins
was based not on his works, but rather on the blood offering
of another, of an innocent. And that was the same religion
that was given to his parents. If you remember when Adam and
Eve, they covered themselves in fig leaves. But when God came
and exposed their sin, He offered what? A sacrifice. A blood offering. And by that blood offering, He
covered their nakedness. And this was the religion that
was taught to Cain and Abel. It was a religion of blood, a
religion of grace. But Cain, Cain's religion was
not one of grace, but one of the works of his own hands. He
took the fruits of his own labors, and he brought them before God. And I don't doubt Cain was sincere. I don't doubt Cain labored very
hard over his fruit. But when he brought that fruit
before God, he was rejected. He was rejected. The fruit of his own labor was
a bloodless sacrifice, and it was rejected. Even so, all who
trust in Jesus Christ plus their works, all who trust in Jesus
Christ plus their will, will be rejected. You cannot mix grace
and works. Paul said, otherwise grace is
no more grace, and work is no more work. They lose their total
meaning if you mix them. And so all false free will religion
is the way of Cain. And it will be rejected. Rejected
of God. Now let us see the truth of this
text. Go back to your text. Go back to 1st Timothy. Now, leading up to this, the
apostle left this man, young man, preacher, Timothy, at Ephesus. And he did this for a specific
purpose because there were men there teaching the law. Teaching
the law. In other words, they were teaching
works religion. How that a man is saved by his
obedience to the law. And he says, you need to charge
them that they don't do that. You need to tell them that they
should preach no other gospel than the gospel that I delivered
to you, that I preached to you. If you remember, He said that
at Galatia. He said, if any man preach any
other gospel than that which I have preached, He said, I don't
care if it's an angel from heaven or any man. He said, let them
go to hell. That's how emphatic this is.
The gospel of God's grace alone must be preached. He preached
this gospel to them, of which Paul himself, he says, I'm an
example. He said, I'm an example. Look
at that in verse 16 of chapter 1. He says, Howbeit for this
cause I obtained mercy, that in me First, Jesus Christ might
show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them, which
should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. Paul was
a Pharisee. He was a blaspheming Pharisee
who hated the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a persecutor of
the church. And yet he received what? Mercy. Mercy. Now Saul of Tarsus, was he looking
for mercy? Was Saul of Tarsus looking for
God? Was he searching for God? No. He thought he had God. He thought
he knew God. He thought he was accepted of
God. Saul was trusting in his own
goodness and his own obedience. But when Christ came to him,
it was by exceeding abundant grace. He says that in verse
14. He says, And the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. What is Paul saying? He's saying,
I was saved by what? Grace. Grace. It was the grace of God that
came to me. It was the grace of God that
gave me faith and love for Jesus Christ. It was grace that saved
me. You see, Paul was a pattern.
He was a pattern of all who will be saved. All who believe on
Jesus Christ. Can we not identify with the
Apostle Paul? Can we not identify that we were
blasphemers? That we were sinners? Now, I
tell you, I can't identify with Paul's experience. No, none of
us can. He saw the risen Christ in his
experience. But I tell you, I can identify
in his salvation because I was saved by grace. I was saved by
grace. And everyone who believes testifies
to this truth. We were saved by grace. And how Paul was saved is how
all men are saved. Now, in verse 1 of chapter 2,
the apostle begins, and he says, I exhort, therefore, first of
all, that supplication, prayers, and intercession be given, giving
of thanks be made for who? This is the first time he uses
that phrase. All men. All men. Now then, let's test
that phrase with what the world believes it means. They mean
all men without exception. That sounds good. You should
pray for all men without exception. Well, let's see if that holds
water. Let's see if that holds water. Do you suppose that we
should pray for men in hell? Is that what he means? You should
pray for all men without exception. That means, I guess, that you
should pray for people in hell. Why would you pray for someone
in hell? There's no hope for them. There's no hope for them. So obviously, he's not talking
about praying for men in hell. Well, maybe he's talking about
praying for those in heaven. Would you pray for people in
heaven? Why would you do that? They're in better condition than
you are. They're in a great glorious condition. You need prayer, but
they don't. They don't need your prayers.
What about apostates? Do you suppose that the apostle
here says that we should pray for apostates? The Scripture
says it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance. You
remember what happened after Saul was rejected. What did the
Lord tell Samuel? He said, don't weep over him. Stop praying for him. So this
definitely does not mean that we should pray for every man
without exception. And even so in our text, are
we to suppose that God, who hath willed all men to be saved, that
He means that all men without exception will be saved? Absolutely
not. Does God mean that He has willed
for all men in hell to be saved? No, because if they are in hell,
they are not His. Why are they in hell if God had
willed them to be saved? Those who believe God's love
extends to all men without exception. Are you saying that God loves
even those who are in hell? By no means. By no means is that
the case. For if God's love, if He loves
those in hell, then what in the world does God's love have to
do with salvation? We know that's not so. See then
the truth of the Word of God that all men here who God hath
willed to save are not all men without exception, but rather
all of the elect of God. That's who God has willed to
save and come to the knowledge of the truth. all of God's elect,
all that the Father chose from eternity by His immutable, unchangeable
grace and decree. He purposed to save some of Adam's
race. You look in 2 Timothy 1 and verse
9. Look at that text. And tell me who are saved here. He said, Who are saved, who hath
saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world began. All those who are saved were
chosen of the Father in particular love. Particular love. He purposed to save His elect
from before the foundation of the world. Salvation is not based
on the choice of man or the will of man, but rather the will and
choice of God alone. Salvation is not based on the
choice or will of man because man's will is not free. Man's
will is in bondage. In bondage to sin and Satan. Every one of us are born with
a depraved nature. We are born bound by sin. Jesus calls Satan a strong man
armed. And he keepeth his house. He
keepeth his house until when? Until the stronger man comes
and overthrows the strong man armed. Man by nature is in bondage
to sin. His will is bent to sin. But salvation rather is not the
choice of man but of God. For God said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion, and whom he will, he hardeneth." Now what is man's response to
that? Man's response to that is, well, if no one resists His
will, then why does he find fault? In other words, if God is sovereign
and nobody rejects His will, then why is He saying we're responsible? And Paul doesn't give some mystical
or philosophical answer to that. He just says plainly, that's
none of your business. It belongs to God why He does
what He does. Who are you to reply against
God? Hath not the potter power over
the clay to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor?
You bet he does. If God had left any part of salvation
up to the will of man or the works of man, then we could say
there was no election. But we would also have to say
there was no salvation. If there is no election of God,
then I tell you there is no salvation of man. But because God has chosen
people, because God has of the same lump, I love that, God didn't
look at the lump and say, well, this part of the lump's a little
better than this part over here. No. Of the same fallen race,
God in sovereign mercy chose some that He would redeem, some
that He would save, some that He would make holy, that He would
call to be His sons. God hath willed to save. Some. And in this is hope for
sinners. In this is hope. Just in case you've forgotten,
I'll put it to you again in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. We know
this text very well. Ephesians chapter 1, the Apostle
said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him. in love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. You want to know why God saves
anyone? There it is. According to the good pleasure
of His will. To the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. The salvation of God is no accident. The salvation of God is no wishful
thinking on God's part. But God saves men on purpose. Now if you want to know what
election is all about, there it is. It's all about purpose. God saves men according to His
own purpose. In Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter
8 and verse 28, it says, For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified." That's all past tense, isn't it? called, justified,
glorified. God has already done this in
His purpose. Purpose. Therefore, God the Father purpose,
predestinated to save And He gave His elect in a covenant
of grace to His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. That's what He says in
our text in verse 5. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Friends,
Jesus is the only mediator between God and men. There is no other
mediator. There is no other way by which
a man can approach unto God but by Jesus Christ. You see, He is what the Hebrews
in Hebrews calls the mediator of the New Covenant. Now let me ask you this. Does
Jesus Christ mediate between God and all men without exception? No. He is the mediator of the
new covenant. In other words, He is only the
mediator of those men contained in the covenant. A covenant is a will. A last
will and testament. Some of you have those. You've
put them out there. They're good for a purpose. Now,
what if you decided to say, oh, well, there's a rich man that
died, and I'm just going to go up there to the reading of this
will. And the attorney looks at you
kind of funny. He says, are you part of the
family? Are you named in this? Did somebody summon you and invite
you to come to this reading of the will? No, I just decided
to come in. Well, you'd be a fool, because
you're not going to receive anything. The only one who receives anything
inside of that will are the people that the man determined to give
it to. And I tell you, God's will, God's
covenant of grace, He has set His covenant toward His elect. And Jesus Christ is the mediator
of that covenant. Jesus does not mediate between
God and all men, but for all those that are in the covenant
of grace. This is clearly seen by the Lord
Jesus in John chapter 6 and John chapter 10. In John chapter 6, our Lord Jesus Christ makes it
clear to these who sought Him to be king, an earthly king,
but they didn't believe on Him. He said this in John 6 verse
37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is the will, this is
the Father's will which has sent me, that of all he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. Man by nature, man by nature
cannot come to Christ. Jesus says in that same passage
in verse 44, no man can come to me except the Father which
hath sent me draw him. But everyone that comes to Christ,
they come to Christ because they're drawn of the Father. And everyone
who comes to Christ, he won't reject any. He'll lose none of
them. Man by nature cannot come, only
except the Father draw him. And Jesus says in John chapter
10, He tells those Pharisees the reason why they didn't believe
on Him. He said, You believe on Me because
you are not of My sheep. But to His sheep He gives eternal
life. He gives them eternal life. Why? Because they were chosen of Him
because of His good, not because of their good works, not because
they were better, but because of His grace, He gives them eternal
life. May God open your eyes to see
that Jesus Christ on the cross was not gambling for the souls
of men, but was actually redeeming them. Redeeming them. redeeming all that the Father
had given Him. He was bleeding and dying not
for all men, but for all of God's elect. Therefore, Jesus' blood
was not shed for those in hell, or else they would not be in
hell. His blood was shed for all His people. His death has
accomplished redemption. His obedience has obtained eternal
and everlasting righteousness for all His elect. Therefore, the Scriptures are
fulfilled when it says, He shall not fail nor be discouraged. In Matthew 1.21 it says, Thou
shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from
their sins. Jesus gave His life a ransom
for all men. And who are the all men then?
In verse 6, it says, "...who gave himself a ransom for all
to be testified of in due time." Now friends, I do not know who
the elect of God are. I do not know, and you don't
either. You don't either. God does. Therefore, I preach
to all men. I preach to anyone who hears.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And
I have confidence that whosoever will believe on Christ shall
be saved. Why? Because I believe that Christ
died for whosoever will. I just don't believe He died
for whosoever won't. I believe He died for whosoever
will. Because all of the elect will
be testified of in due time. They will come. Not one of them
will be lost. Friends, repent. Believe not
on the God of this religious age who is relying on your will
or decision, but come to Christ as you are, sinner, hopeless,
helpless, with nothing to offer. Come and buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come now and believe on Him as all your salvation. And He will
save you. How can I be sure? Because this
is the work of God the Holy Spirit. No man can come except the Father
draw him. Can you come? Well, come. The Father draws us by cords
of love and affection, not by merit, but by free and sovereign
grace. All that the Father elected,
the Son redeemed, all that the Son redeemed, the Spirit calls.
And all He calls will come, and none of them will be lost. Therefore, blessed be God our
Savior, who will have all men. Who are these all men? They are
His elect who will have all men to come to the knowledge of the
truth. Who has ransomed all. All who? All of His elect. And you know
what? All means all of every kind of people. It doesn't matter
who you are or where you came from or how deep you are in sin.
It doesn't matter how vile you are. When God calls a man to
be saved, it doesn't matter. He will save him. He will save
him. And not one will be lost. I tell you, friends, I believe
in a successful Savior. I believe in a successful Savior. And I've experienced a successful
salvation. God has saved me, not by any
works of myself or will of myself. He saved me according to His
will. And I know that my salvation
is sure. Because all my salvation rests
in Him. If your salvation rests in Christ
alone, then you may have a sure hope, sure confidence that you
are included in that all man. Praise God for that.