I remember the day when our Lord lovingly brought
me to Calvary. The very day that my pride and
honor was washed away and I saw the truth in what this flesh
is. But not only did I see what this
flesh was, at that time I saw the glory of my Savior on His
cross, on Calvary, taking all my sins upon Him. Our text this morning will be
1 Timothy 2. verses 3 through 6. Will you join me in reading 1
Timothy chapter 2 verses 3 through 6. 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."
Now before I dive head first into the subject that I want
to talk about this morning, we must address this word, all,
that we just read about. We know through many scriptures
that our Lord has a people of whom He became a man, walking
righteously before God the Father, establishing a righteousness
for them. A people. He didn't do it for all
the world. There are those in this world
who would like us to believe that God loved the whole world. And I'm here to tell you this
morning that if God loved the whole world, that God of Scriptures
loved the whole world, the whole world would be saved. If you think God is sitting there
waiting for men to do something, then you don't know Scriptures.
It is so clear throughout Scriptures that God has a particular people. He established a righteousness
for them in love, having predestinated them unto the adoption of children.
Because of His love for those people, He predestinated them
to the adoption of children. That's Scripture. That's not
my interpretation or my desire. That's what God's Word says. by Jesus Christ to Himself, chosen
before the foundation of the world, that they, the ones God
the Father gave God the Son, before a star ever shined in
the heavens, would be saved from the wrath to come. And there's
wrath coming. And you and I know that that's
exactly where we should be if we were left to ourselves in
our flesh. Aren't you thankful? Can you
not give praise to the Lord and Savior for showing us that very
thing? For like I said a moment ago,
when I saw what I am and what I deserve, I also saw the One
who took it for me. Took what I deserve upon Himself. He who is perfect in every way
became sin, that I would be made righteous in Him. That you would
be made righteous in Him. And He did this for a remnant.
That's what Scripture calls the people of God, a remnant, a small
portion of those that walk the earth. He calls them My sheep. And He says they hear My voice. Because He gave us ears to hear.
When once we walked dead in trespasses and sins, now we walk in life
in Christ. And we are dead to the world
of self. In John 17-2, our Lord is praying
to the Father, the priestly prayer, the true prayer. He says, "...as Thou
hast given Him," speaking of Christ, "...power over all flesh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
Him." Does that sound like all the world? No, He has given life
to as many as. Some of you have heard Pastor
Gene preach on that subject a few times. What a wonderful subject
that is, to be a part of the as many as. Oh, not to be left to ourselves. In the very same chapter, verse
9, He says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine. He tells
some unbelieving Jews, I have shown you, I have shown you that
I am God Almighty in the flesh by all the works that I have
done. And you believe not, because you are not My sheep." My sheep hear My voice. There
are two verses in the sixth chapter of John where this word, all,
is used. but it most definitely means
something different than what it seems to mean here in our
text. Would you turn to John 6, verse
37. John 6, verse 37. Our Lord says, 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 Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again the last day. And
this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up the last day." Now notice that
these two verses, 37 and 39, the word ALL is followed by an
explanation. Showing us a particular group.
ALL that the Father giveth me. That describes what that all
is, doesn't it? Verse 39, All which He hath given
me. Again, we see a description of
what that all means. In our text, back in Timothy,
there's no description of what that all is, but the world will
take that all, and they'll say it's for all the world. That's
where they develop this part, and they use John 3.16 along
with that too, for God so loved the world. You know, you ask
the people who believe that God loves the whole world,
you ask them, and they'll use that Scripture every time. Free
will. Absolutely. They'll use that
scripture, for God so loved the world. And they completely neglect
the part that, whosoever. Because see, that's the key to
that word. That's the key to that phrase,
that whosoever believeth. It sounds like it's inviting
you to believe. The problem is we can't in our
natural state. There's no life in us until the
Lord Jesus Christ comes to His people and gives life to that
person. Lazarus didn't come forth until
the Lord said, Lazarus, come forth! All is followed by an explanation
that shows a particular group, or in other words, it shows the
people of God. The same points that were made
in the 17th chapter of John, and we see as many as. He says, I pray for them. I just
read that to you a moment ago in the 17th chapter of John.
Those whose names were written in the Book of Life, written
before the world was, Christ came and He died on the cross
for a particular people. A people that He has loved with
an eternal love. If universal love were true,
then all would be saved. Our God is that powerful. He's
not lacking in anything. All power in heaven and earth
is His, is that correct? We're pretty rooted in that,
aren't we? But there will be those who may be listening to
this very thing on the internet who have never heard that before.
They've never heard of a God who rules over everything. This God that has taught so much
out in the world around us today is a weak God who's waiting for
men to do something. Either make a decision, come
to the front of the church, get baptized, worship on Saturday,
whatever you want to put in there for men to do. But the God of
Scriptures is the one who does it all. And when He says, all
that the Father giveth me, just like we read in that article
from David Edmondson. It's going to happen. No ifs,
no buts, and no empty seats. As many as, he says. I pray for them, he says. Our God is that powerful. If
it is his will, it shall be done. All power in heaven and earth
belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is exactly why we must preach
and teach the whole counsel of God. If you take a verse here
and a verse there, you can make the Scripture mean anything you
want, anything that your hearts desire. There are some out there
who have taken God's Word and made it into something that I
won't even speak of. Well, just look at what the Catholics
have done with God's Word. Now they worship men right out
of it. They worship a man who sits on a throne over there in
Italy somewhere, Rome, the Vatican. I guess it's its own country
or something, I think. Folks, there are no contradictions in
God's Word. If you think you see a contradiction
in God's Word, it's because you don't understand something. And
there's a lot in this book that we do not understand, that I
do not understand, that you do not understand. There are a lot of things that
I can't explain, that I just chalk up to being a mystery and
God will reveal them someday, even if that day is the day when
I go to stand before Him. There are no contradictions in
God's Holy Word. The world has used these verses
in our text back in Timothy, if you would please. These words where it talks about
all men to be saved. Or all men were ransomed. They make it a contradiction
to what we have already read. So we must not completely understand
exactly what that is saying. It looks like there is, but it's
only because we don't understand it. After reading the commentaries
from Spurgeon, Hawker, and Gill, they seem to agree that this
scripture that we are reading of is referring to all kinds
of different types of people. We just saw a moment ago, back
here in verse 2, for kings, let's begin at verse 1, I exhort therefore,
I beg of you, I raise this up therefore that the first of all
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made
for all men. For kings and for all that are
in authority. You see where it's describing
who they all are? that we may lead a quiet and
peaceful life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have
all men, in other words, all kinds of men to be saved and
to come unto the knowledge of truth. We don't know if the leaders
are going to... Do you pray for the leaders of
this country? I dislike Nancy Pelosi a lot. But how do I know she's not a
child of God? Is there somebody in this world
that you don't like? Folks, we ought to be praying for everybody. People didn't know that John
Reeves was a child of God until God came to him that very day
and showed him what Calvary meant. Did people know that you were
a child of God before God called you out of darkness? No. Some people still wonder if John
is a child of God. Our Lord has His chosen people
in every tongue in every nation, in every time. God's people are few and they're
spread out, but they come from every kindred. And we preach
to all who God brings to hear. Now that's not just the preacher
who stands here at this pulpit, but that's you also. As children
of God, you're going to go out and you're going to manifest
that in one way or another. And people are going to know
that you believe in a God. That you believe in the true
and living God. Preaching and witnessing is the
same thing. It's the same thing. That's all
we're doing is we're declaring our Savior. I just get to do it for an hour.
Plus all the rest of the time that we're preaching. Preaching and witnessing is the
same thing. The people of God are few and
they're spread out, but they are in every kindred and we preach
to all that God may give the increase. Paul is instructing
Timothy. He's instructing Timothy in these
very things. as we will see throughout this
letter. So now, if you would, let us consider our subject for
this morning. Look again at the sixth verse,
if you would, please. Who gave himself a ransom for
all to be testified in due time. My title this morning is Testified
in Due Time. There was a day when the Lord,
out of love, called each and every one of us out of darkness.
Just as He did Lazarus, He called us personally. Not with the call
that goes out into all the world, but with the call that goes directly
into the heart. The new heart. The new heart
that believes because Christ has put that heart in His people.
He cut away that old stony heart. You've heard me say that many
times. And He gave us a new heart. A new heart that believes God. We read the Scriptures. He gave
Himself a ransom. And we can believe that because
He's given us the faith to believe it. We can believe that He is
God, that Christ Jesus is God Almighty in the flesh. I and
my Father are one because He has given us the faith to believe
so. A gift. And because we know it's a gift,
we glorify our Savior for that. Do you see how salvation is all
of Him? Do you see how all the glory
goes to Him, no matter what it is? There's nothing in John to
glory about. My Lord has brought it all. He
has given it all to me. He came in due time. I was 40 years old. Five years later, He came in
due time and my wife. began to hear the word for the
first time. She's a year older than me. Well,
not quite a whole year. You see, you get my point, though?
It was our due time. He comes in the day of love and
calls his children out of darkness. And that's exactly what he's
done to each and every one of us. Our Lord and Savior comes
to His people in the day of His love, and by His power, He quickens,
He gives life to as many as the Father hath given Him. We just
read that in John 17. In Romans 10, 13 it says, For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher, and how shall they preach, except they be sent?"
Folks, there are people all over the world, this very day, this
very moment, hearing about another Jesus. There is another Jesus. One who is waiting for men to
do things. One who is waiting upon men. Who has done all that
He can, and the rest be up to men. I'm here to tell you that is
another Jesus than the one that is spoken of here in this Bible.
Turn to the book of Acts, if you would, please. The 13th chapter. This One whom all power and authority
belongs to. This One that we read about in
these Scriptures from cover to cover. The Lord Jesus Christ.
This One who is God in the flesh is the only way to eternal life.
Any other way is another Jesus Any other way is like a thief,
stealing the glory from God Almighty. By His, by our Lord and Savior,
by Jesus Christ's sacrifice for the sins of His people, we have
a righteousness established in Him. A righteousness that gives
us the right and the ability to stand before a thrice holy
God, holy as God Himself. He who knew no sin was made sin
that we would be made righteous in Him. He took all of the sins
of His loved ones. He took them out into the grave
with Him, never to be seen again, hidden as far as the east is
from the west. I love that. I remember hearing that the first
time, and I thought to myself, I've got to think about that from
here. OK, you go that way, you go to the ocean. You go that
way, you go to the ocean. And then you just keep right
on going. You go that way. It confused me for a minute to
be quite honest with you. I'm a little simple minded about
those kind of things. And then all of a sudden it clicked to
me. Wait a minute. You can keep going around and
around and around. You're never going to get to meet each other.
They'll never meet each other. Our Lord never sees our sin anymore. That's good news. That's great
news to me. How about you? He took all the sins of His loved
ones and He took them into the grave. He bore our iniquities
in His body and the blood of God was shed for our sins. Grace,
amazing grace how sweet the sound we sing that saved a wretch like
me. How are you going to call upon
the name of someone you've never heard of? You're not. Our Lord has to bring
you to where that name is declared openly and clearly, testified in due time. He has to bring you to the point
where you'll hear The power of God spoken of in Jesus Christ. Spoken, testified in due time. First you must be given life
to hear, for the dead don't hear. Then you must be given life to
call, for the dead can't speak. And life comes through the preaching
of the gospel, the true gospel, the gospel that gives Christ
all the glory. The Gospel of Christ and Him
crucified. This is what all preachers are
sent from God to do. We preach Christ. Paul is preaching
this very thing right here in the book of Acts chapter 13.
If you would join me in reading from verse 16. Then Paul stood
up, and beckoning with his hands said, Men of Israel and ye that
fear God, give audience. Hear the Word of God. Preach.
Listen to me. Let me tell you about the One
who rules over everything. Notice to whom Paul is calling
to here. Men of Israel. Spiritual Israel. Ye that fear God. See, that's
the problem with our world today, folks. There's no fear of God
in the world. Somebody put that on Facebook and I had to forward
that on because that is so true. There's no fear of God in our
leadership. They want to take the word of
God out of the buildings of the public. They take the word of
God out of the schools that our children are raised in. I saw something yesterday that
just sickened me. There's a school that allows
the children of Muslims to get down on their hands and knees
and do their little prayer time. But they won't allow a Christian
child to ask, can I pray to my God? Oh no, you can't do that. There must be separation from
church and state. It just sickens me. They've taken
God out of the world. But that's the way the world
is. That's the way we were before too. Exactly the way we were. I remember. Can you remember
the pit the Lord brought you out of? I remember. It was all about John and his
little world. And it still is to some points
I have to fight that. But that's a battle that we will
all have to fight until the day the Lord takes us home. Ye that fear God, Verse 17, the
God of this people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted
the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt.
And with a high arm brought He them out of it. Did God spare
anything in delivering His people from Egypt? No, in fact, He made
such a spectacle of it that the world talks about it even today. The TV shows try to explain how
God raised the waters up and made people walk on dry land. They even talked about that,
how the winds came through and just instantly dried out the
mud. And you'll recall, I sat there and laughed at it. These
people are just flat out crazy trying to explain that. This
was a miracle. The same miracle in delivering
you and I. The same miracle of showing us
who Christ Jesus is. He raised the waters up and we
walked on dry ground to safety to our Lord and Savior. He drew
them to Himself. You notice He didn't say any
of them got in a boat and tried to go over there and go that
way. No, they walked on dry land because that's what God provided
them to do. A powerful arm indeed. All power
in heaven and earth belonged to our Lord and Savior. All power,
even power over man's so-called will. I love that. If I was left to
my own will, I'd still be where I was at. Thank God for His will. Thank God for His will in calling
me out of darkness. Verse 18, Paul goes on to preach, and about
the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. Aren't you thankful our Lord
is long-suffering? Forty years he watched John go
along Long-suffering with the stuff that John was and is. Until the day when I heard the
testimony of who Christ is. The due time. Testimony in due
time. Oh, how thankful I am, our Lord
is long-suffering to me. Verses 19-23. And when he had destroyed seven
nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them
by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space
of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And
afterward they desired a king, and God gave unto them Saul the
son of Seth, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of
forty years. And when he had removed him,
he raised up unto them David to be their king, to whom also
he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of
Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of this man's seed hath God,
according to his promise, raised up Israel a Savior, Jesus. Do you see the due time? Paul is testifying that all these
years went by between Jacob and David. But the due time came
when David would be called to be king, just as the due time
would come when the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would be
born of a virgin. This is the testament that we
give to those that God is pleased to have us speak to. It's in His time. You don't believe
the Word of God? That's okay. It's not your time. When it's God's time, you will
believe the Word of God. If God says it, it's going to
happen. The Messiah. The One who was
foretold of since the beginning of time. God taught Adam and
Eve this very thing as I was speaking of in the Bible study
this morning. He taught them in due time the
testament was given of the Lord and Savior when God killed an
animal to clothe those who were naked. Adam and Eve. That was
a testament of the Lord to come. Our Savior who would give Himself
and shed His own blood. He would go up to Jerusalem to
be scourged, to be beaten, to be trampled upon. And He would
go willingly. That's the Testament. And in
due time, that all came about just as it should be. Just as
our time to be called out of darkness came. The very day our
eyes were opened up and our ears, and we heard the Gospel of Jesus
Christ for the first time, we said, that makes more sense than
anything I've ever heard. Verses 24 and 25, when John had
first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to
all the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course,
he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there
cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. We who preach are aware of our
insufficiency. As I have said many times, I
am nothing more than a sinner preaching to sinners about the
One who saves sinners. That's all it is. Don't put me
up on any pedestal, put Him up on the pedestal. He's the One
who needs to be on everybody's pedestal. He's the One who deserves
it. He's the One who should get all
the glory for everything. We know our insufficiency. We
know that we cannot save, but our Lord saves through the preaching,
through the testimonies, through the teaching of His Word. The
preaching of Him. Verse 26, Men and brethren, children
in the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God,
to you, to you, To you is the word of this salvation
sent. Hear again those who fear God,
those who have been called out of the darkness you once walked
in, those who have been given the gift of faith, the ability
to believe, the life to see that salvation is of the Lord and
of the Lord alone. This message is sent, it is testified
at the due time for you. Now is the day of salvation.
In Isaiah 49.8 we read, Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable
time. Let me repeat that. Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable
time have I heard thee. And in a day of salvation have
I helped thee. And I will preserve thee and
give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth
to cause to inherit the desolate heritages. In 2 Corinthians 6-2
we read, For He has said, I have heard thee in the time accepted,
and in the day of salvation have I secured thee. Behold, now is
the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now if you would join me in reading
27-39 and I'll close with just a few words after that. For they that dwell at Jerusalem
and their rulers, verse 27, because they knew Him not, nor yet the
voices of the prophets which were read every sabbath day,
they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no
cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that He should be
slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and
laid Him in a sepulcher, But God raised Him from the dead. And He was seeing many days of
them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are
His witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you, glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
hath raised up Jesus again. And it is also written in the
second psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to the corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. Wherefore, he saith also in another
psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to cease corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was
laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he, speaking of our Lord
and Savior, whom Christ raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore,
brethren and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses." Folks, we cannot earn. We cannot
earn our way into heaven by following the law of Moses. All that does
is condemn the soul. We cannot buy our way into heaven. Our works are as filthy rags. I plead with you this morning. I plead with myself. Turn away from the things of
this world. Turn to the only salvation from
sin. Turn to Christ. That's the testament. Is today
your due time? The testimony is this, Christ
Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of which I am chief. Turn to Christ, who says, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. You know why he won't cast them
out? Because coming to Christ is His
work. Whether you know it or not, He
brought you to Him. And if you belong to Him, He
will bring you to Him. In the day of His power. In due
time. Through the drawing power of
God, at the due time, His chosen are called to hear the testament
of the One who gave Himself a ransom for all of His elect. John chapter 6 verse 39, and
this is the Father's will. This is the will of God Almighty.
This is the will of Him who created everything. And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day.