Well, good morning, everyone.
It's good to see you. Brother Obi Williams is preaching
in Danville this morning. So let's be remembering him. And let's, I always say that,
let's be remembering him. Let's really be remembering him.
And as these men travel, traveling is not easy. the study and the
travel and the preaching, and pray the Lord will be with him.
Brother Kevin Thacker will be here tonight. He's preaching
this morning in Rocky Mountain. He's gonna come our way and preach
to us tonight, and I'm looking forward to that. And I got a
text this week from Brother Daniel Parks, Moose Parks, he goes by,
that he has accepted the call to be the pastor in Great Falls,
Montana. So we pray the Lord will be with
him and be with them. He felt led, he's been a missionary
in the Caribbean islands for years and he felt led to come
back to the states. So the Lord will and he will
be the pastor in Montana. All right, let's have a word
of prayer. Our high and holy Heavenly Father,
Lord, we come before you this morning bowing. We come before you in reverence,
Lord. We come before you in worship
and in praise. We come in humility and thanks. We come grateful, Lord. We are grateful people to be
called by your name and Grateful for having been giving a heart
to look to you and to cry out to you for mercy. Lord, thank
you for what you've done for us. And thank you for gathering
us here this morning. And we pray, Lord, if you would
be willing that you would bless our time. Lord, would you please
bless our worship today? Lord, truly enable us to to worship
you from the heart, not just in body, but in soul, in mind,
heart, and soul. And we pray, Lord, for all of
the men who stand. We do pray for our brother who's
in Danville, Lord. Would you be with him and bless
him? Bless the brethren preaching in the conference this morning,
and bless our brethren everywhere, everywhere that the truth is
preached, everywhere that you've raised up a true gospel ministry,
Lord. Be with the men and bless them
and bless the message and the word and bless the hearts and
the ears who hear. Lord, just be with us today,
we pray. Thank you for all of your goodness,
all of your kindness, every good and perfect gift. Lord, we acknowledge
that it comes from you. from salvation to everything
that we need in this life. Lord, you have given it to us,
and we're so grateful. Bless our teachers now, teaching
these children. Lord, give them wisdom. Give
them a word. Plant a seed, if you would be
willing, and call them to yourself. We pray, Lord, that you have
and elect people in this city and the surrounding cities and
even right here in this building. Lord, we pray that we might belong
to you. Help us now and bless us, forgive us and have mercy
on us, for Christ's sake, amen. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Timothy chapter two. We're gonna come back to 1 Timothy
for our Bible study this morning. Chapter two. And we're going to pick up with
verse eight, but let's read the first seven verses leading up
to it. First Timothy two verse one says,
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. Now, we've already had a message
on this verse, and I'm not gonna re-preach a message on this verse.
But let me clarify the truth of it before we move on. Look
with me, if you would, at John 17. While you're turning there,
I'll read this verse to you again. It says, speaking of our Lord,
it says, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto
a knowledge of the truth. Turn with me to John 17. John 17 verse 1 these words spake
Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the
hour has come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify
thee as thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him that's
an important Lying to understand. To as many as thou hast given
him. Verse six, he said, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Out of, Revelation says, every
tribe, nation, kindred, tongue, and people. I've manifested thy
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world, thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they've kept thy word. Verse nine, he said, I pray for
them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I'm glorified in them. So when he says all in
1 Timothy 2 verse four, he's talking about all that the father
gave to him. All that the Father foreknew,
Romans 8 says. All of the called according to
his purpose. All of the usward, Peter said. All of the elect. All of God's
elect. All of them, all of them, will
be saved and will come to a knowledge of the truth. All of them. All
right, go with me back to 1 Timothy 2. Verse five says, who gave himself
a ransom for all, all of his people, as many as were ordained
to eternal life. All of them who gave himself
a ransom for all to be testified in due time, 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 verity." It is critically important that we read and understand
this word in the context of this word. Let me repeat that. It
is critically important that we read and understand this word
in the context of this word. Have you ever read verses like
that and wondered, why does it say that? Based on everything
else that is said, why is it written that way? It's very important
that we understand this word and we read this word in the
context of the word. Critically important. Here's
an example. As we read the scripture, we'll see that it says things
like this. It'll say, thy faith hath saved thee. You recognize
that? Thy faith has saved thee. All
right. We need to understand and remember that this word clarifies
the fact that faith is not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God given to you and you possess it and you own it and it's mine
because he gave it to me. It's not of me. It's of God. It's of Christ. It's the faith
of Christ. that He gives to His people.
We are not the author of it, and we're not the finisher of
it. God is. Therefore, it's not a work that
can be credited to us in any way, shape, or form. So there's
no glory in it for us when we hear, thy faith has saved thee. There's no glory in that for
us. What that's saying is, the gift of God has saved you. That's what it's saying. The
author and the finisher has saved you. So if we're going to read that
Christ gave himself a ransom for all, we need to understand
and clarify the fact that Christ gave himself a ransom for all
that he was willing to give himself a ransom for. All who he came
to give himself a ransom for. He was not willing to give himself
for everybody without exception. There's a sign that used to be
in town, in this town, a sign in front of a church, and it
said, God wants everyone to be saved without exception. And
that's not true. If God wanted everyone to be
saved without exception, everyone would be saved without exception
because God is God. And he does whatever he wants
to do. With the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of earth,
none can stay his hand or say unto him, what are you doing?
No one can stop him and say, no, I won't let you save me.
Nobody. So God, the Lord Jesus Christ, was not willing to give
himself for everybody without exception. He did not pay the
price for every man and woman's sin. He said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. And what this means is this is
a sovereign God, an almighty God. But for every soul that
he chose to have mercy on and that he chose to redeem, he paid
the price in full. Every one of them is paid in
full. All right. Now I say all that because that
was the preface. Here we go. Let's get started.
I'm still going to be short. I'll still stay within my time.
I say all that because our text today is verse 8. Look at verse
8. It says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting
up holy hands without wrath and doubting. This is a verse of
scripture that we would be wise to take a minute and compare
it and clarify it with other scripture. If we will read this in the context
of the scripture, we will understand the truth of what he's saying.
What he said right here is so. Our God does not lie. He doesn't
write with trickery. He does not write something meaning
something else. He means what he says. But if
we'll compare this with scripture, we'll understand the truth of
what he's saying. Verse 8, Paul said, And this
is God's apostle, he's saying this on the authority of God.
He said, I will, this is my will and desire for you as God's people. I will therefore that men pray
everywhere at all times in all places. We can pray anywhere
and everywhere right here in the heart. First Thessalonians 5, 17 says,
pray without ceasing, just pray without ceasing, call on God
without ceasing. Verse eight, I will therefore
that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and
doubting. Do it everywhere, do it often,
and as often as you do it, do it this way. Pray, lifting up
holy hands, Without wrath and without doubting. Pray means
cry out to God. Cry out to God. Without wrath
means do it in a spirit of mercy and forgiveness and love. Without
doubting means do it in faith, believing and trusting in the
one you're praying to. If you pray to him, you believe
that he's able. You trust the one you're praying
to. But he said, lifting up holy hands. And this is what I want
us to dwell on for a minute. And I want us to understand that
this is the absolute truth. All right. This is the absolute
truth. If we are going to truly pray
to God, really, in the proper spirit and in faith, then we're
gonna have to lift up holy hands. We just have to. This is the
truth. It's absolutely vital that God's
people pray lifting up holy hands. There's no other way to pray
in sincerity, no other way. All right, now let's qualify
that. All right, let's qualify this. Let's understand the truth
of this in the context of the scripture. And I'm gonna go ahead
and tell you, I'm gonna set everybody at ease here, okay? Let me go
ahead and just tell you. Standing up in front of everybody,
swaying back and forth, with one or two arms over your head,
drawing all kinds of attention to yourself. People like to do
that while they sing. They hold one microphone with this hand,
and they go like this with the other hand. That's not what he's
talking about. All right, that's not what he's
talking about. Let me prove that to us in Isaiah
1. Turn with me over to Isaiah chapter
1. Isaiah chapter one. Verse two, it says here, Oh heavens
and give ear. Oh earth for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought
up children and they have rebelled against me. And isn't that so
can't we say, Oh, that's so true. Verse 3, he said, The ox knoweth
his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors,
they have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel unto anger. They are gone away backward.
Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint from the sole of the foot, even unto the head.
There's no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. They've not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. That's how God sees
all men and women in their sin. Verse 10. Hear the word of the
Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our
God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me, given all these sacrifices? Saith the
Lord, I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat
of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks
or of lambs or of he goats. When you come to appear before
me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto
me. You'll see these men carry these little lantern looking
things with their incense, you know, like this is holy and offering
up to God. He said, incense is an abomination
unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, it's
sin. Even the solemn meeting, your
new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hated. They are
a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them. Watch verse 15. And when you spread forth your
hands, like people do, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when
you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full
of blood. He said, when you spread forth
your hands before me in a vain show, oftentimes when men and
women do this, really it's look at me. It's what it is. Look
at me. Look how holy and how spiritual
I am. And he said, when you spread forth your hands in this show,
this outward show of worship, he said, I'll hide my eyes from
you. I'll turn my head away from it. I'm not going to look at
it. It sickens me. That's what he said. It sickens
me. Now, who's he talking to right here? He's talking to us. He's talking to us. Look at verse
nine. He said, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very
small remnant. We should have been a Sodom and
we should have been like unto Gomorrah, burned up. That's what
we would have been. Had he not chosen a remnant and
made a covenant to save a particular people, we would have just been
consumed up in our sin, burned up. Because verse two, he said,
you're a people laden with iniquity, just laden with it. And that's
us. So here's the point. Us showing our hands to him is
not what Paul is talking about. And Peter supported that fact
by saying this in Acts chapter 2. Turn with me over there to
Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 verse 22 says, Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, the man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified He said,
Your wicked hands did it. And when you talk about the hands
of this flesh, that's all you can say about them. Wicked. You
want to see wicked hands? Look right here. Wicked. Wicked. Philippians 3.3 says, We are
the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in this flesh. No confidence,
no part of this flesh. How could we have confidence
in any part of it? It's all wicked. It's all wicked. Only evil continually. Romans
5 says ungodly. It's so, isn't it? That right
there is ungodly. Isaiah 64 says filthy rags. That's all this is, filthy rags.
So lifting up holy hands is not lifting up our hands. There is
only one set of hands. There's only one set of hands
that are holy. It's not ours. It's Christ's. Christ's alone. Psalm 24 says,
who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand
in his holy place? It's he that hath clean hands
and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully." That only describes one man. One man. Christ Jesus the Lord,
the spotless Lamb of God, the Holy One of Israel, the Holy
One of Israel. If God the Father is going to
hear our prayer and receive us, for many He's going to say, I'm
not going to hear you. When you pray to me and you bring
all of your sacrifices to me and everything you have done,
I'm not going to hear you. This is critical. If God the
Father is going to hear our prayer and receive us, it is only going
to be at the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, only. True prayer
in the true spirit of true faith is this, it's us putting our
hands in our pockets and lifting up Christ. Christ's hands alone, that means
his work alone, his worthiness alone, his deeds
alone, the hand of his mercy and his forgiveness and his love.
We come in his mercy and his forgiveness and his love alone. Psalm 143, 5 says, I remember
the days of old, I meditate on all thy works, I muse on the
work of thy hands. And that's what we're doing,
that's what we do. We think on and dwell on and declare and
rejoice in the work of His hands, everything He has done. What was the ultimate work of
His hands that we lift up? Turn with me to John 20, okay?
done here, but turn to John 20, just back a couple of pages.
John 20 verse 26, it says. After eight days again, his disciples
were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. Then
saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands. Reach hither thy hand, thrust
it into my side. Be not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
That is the holy work of the holy hands that we lift up and
we plead to God, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. the
holy sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in closing, turn
with me to Psalm 143. I just quoted this verse to you,
but I want to point out one thing and then we'll be done here.
Psalm 143, verse five, it says, I remember the days of old, I
meditate on all thy works, I muse on the work of thy hands." Verse
6, he said, I stretch forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirsteth after thee. as a thirsty land. Now, number one, we see and we
hear the voice of our Lord and Savior in this with his worthy
hands, stretching them forth to his Father. But in him, David
said, I stretch forth my hands unto thee. He stretches forth
his hands But he's not stretching forth his works. He didn't say,
I stretch forth my works. He said, I stretch forth my hands.
He's not stretching forth his worthiness. He's not stretching
forth his holiness. He's not stretching forth his
anything other than his need. That's what he's stretching forth
right here is his need. And it's like when a child wants
to be picked up by a parent. Okay. These little children,
we have so many little children, they come up to their parent
and they go like this. They're not claiming they're
anything other than their need and their want and their desire.
That's the only stretching forth of our hands that we do before
our Lord. We stretch forth our need to
him. Our need of a holy Savior, Christ
our Savior. Paul said, I will therefore that
men and women pray everywhere in the heart. lifting up Christ's
holy hands, his hands, his work, his spotless finished work without
wrath and without doubting in love and thankfulness and faith,
trusting, believing. I pray the Lord